


The Best Gift in Life

by breeeliss



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Slow Burn, friendship to romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-07-11 07:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7036060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeeliss/pseuds/breeeliss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn’t a coincidence that the same girl who could weave beautiful lies for her entire class could be the same girl who could sit hunched in the back of the classroom with no friends and no smiles to offer. </p><p>Marinette wasn’t a hero like Ladybug was. She couldn’t go back in time and fix what she’d broken. But if she could possibly make amends in any way, possibly right the loneliness that she’d accidentally forced upon a girl who only ever wanted to be liked, then maybe that was the best gift she could give.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the shit out of the Love Square, it makes me weep and cry at night when I think about it. But you can’t show me a lady ship in a fandom and expect me not to write about it.

Marinette got the first inkling something was wrong when she refreshed the Ladyblog and saw that Lila’s interview had been taken down.

Alya wouldn’t have taken that video down for anything, not after what it did for her follower and hit count, not even after considering that the video was indirectly giving Lila the chance to impress Adrien and ruin Marinette’s chances of getting him to return her affections. Plus it wasn’t as if Marinette could prove Lila was lying through her teeth for the whole video without revealing too much about her secret identity anyway. She sort of accepted that the darn thing would stay there and hoped that her fake involvement with the girl would blow over in favor of more important things.

But Marinette had checked the blog on her computer, on her tablet, and on her phone. The direct link didn’t work anymore. It couldn’t possibly have been because of the akuma attack. She didn’t even think Alya knew who the civilian behind Volpina was. Maybe she’d taken the video down to edit it or something?

Marinette didn’t really have the chance to think on it much that morning — all of the excitement from yesterday had put her behind on her physics homework and she was hurriedly working through the problem set that was due first thing in the afternoon — and decided to do a little detective work in between classes.

But when Marinette was walking up the steps to the school, she barely had the time to smooth out her skirt and freak out in private at the sight of Adrien in a _button down_ — log that away for future daydreams — when she saw that he was trying to comfort a very visibly upset Nino.

“Chick totally freaked out on me cuz I asked her about those Hollywood directors that she knew. Broke my headphones, dude!” The large earpieces were cracked straight across and Nino was shoving them in Adrien’s face for him to see. “Smacked them straight out of my hand and just stormed off. She was awesome yesterday, what the hell happened?”

Adrien was rubbing the back of his neck and keeping his gaze towards the floor. “I don’t know, man. Maybe she’s just been in a bad mood today? That akuma fight kinda had everyone on edge.”

“Okay, clearly this bears repeating.” Nino shoved the headphones closer to Adrien’s face. “She. _Broke_. My headphones. I don’t care what happened yesterday, chick’s got issues.”

Marinette frowned and was about to skirt around their conversation, casually wave at Adrien without self combusting, and just go straight inside to sketch before class, but she jumped when she felt Alya’s arm around her shoulder. Her friend started to march them up the steps and winked in her direction when they finally stopped directly in front of Nino and Adrien.

“What are we talking about, boys?” Alya asked pleasantly, gently squeezing Marinette’s shoulder in an effort to keep her cool. Marinette was trying to glare sideways in disapproval, but she was a little distracted by the fact that she could see that Adrien’s hair was still wet from his shower this morning and that his shoulders looked a lot broader in that shirt.

“Lila,” Nino grumbled bitterly.

“She kind of snapped at him this morning,” Adrien explained worriedly. “We think something might be wrong with her.”

Alya scoffed. “Oh I know something’s wrong with her. Girl called me this morning practically yelling at me. And honestly, I’m here just trying to get dressed and she’s over here demanding things.”

Marinette turned to Alya. “Wait, she called you this morning?”

“Yeah, we traded numbers after that interview she did for the Ladyblog because she wanted to schedule a part two later on,” Alya scowled. “Not that it matters anymore because she made me take the damn thing down.”

Marinette blinked. “ _She_ was the one who made you take it down?”

Alya shrugged. “Yeah, she was threatening to get my blog reported for posting videos of her without her permission, and I’m not about to mess with that. Lost a few followers, but I’ll live. Still, she was being weirdly intense about it.”

Marinette bit the inside of her cheek, already having a very strong idea explaining Lila’s sudden change of heart. She doubted the girl wanted any visual evidence of her praises for Ladybug now. Marinette had sort of killed that and poured salt and brine over it to prevent it from being otherwise.

“That actually makes sense,” Adrien admitted. “I actually found out that Lila doesn’t even know Ladybug. They’ve never met.”

Alya’s eyes widened. “Woah are you _serious_? How did you find out about that?”

Adrien blinked. “I, uh….ran into Ladybug right around when the akuma showed up yesterday. She mentioned it in passing.” Yeah, “mentioned it in passing” wasn’t quite the way it went down, but Marinette was at least thankful that Adrien hadn’t included all the dirty details about her abrasiveness. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d be able to explain that away to everyone who asked.

“God, no wonder!” Alya huffed. “She probably realized she got caught in a lie and wanted to cover her tracks. Who thinks they can get away with lying about Ladybug?”

“But then what about Nino?” Marinette offered for the sake of furthering the conversation away from herself.

Nino held his hands up. “Hey, I didn’t do anything to her. You know me. I’m a chill dude. I wouldn’t push her for anything.”

“We’re not saying you did,” Adrien comforted. “But still. You think the two have to do with each other?”

“She was probably lying about everything else too,” Alya frowned. “Bet you she doesn’t know a thing about any Hollywood directors. And I bet that story about Jagged Stone is garbage too.”

Adrien frowned in sympathy. “That sounds possible.”

“Dude, in what universe does that justify her basically flushing fifty of my own euros down the drain? She lied to everyone and now _she’s_ upset? Not cool.”

Marinette tried to salvage the situation. “She’s probably just embarrassed. It’s understandable.”

“I dunno, I’m with Nino, that’s no excuse. She was being really nasty over the phone for no reason. We’ve all been nothing but nice to her.”

 _Most of us anyway_ , Marinette thought guiltily.

Their conversation was interrupted by the ring of the bell, with Nino giving the promise that this conversation was not over and that they were going to brainstorm ways to help him get enough money to buy another pair of headphones that were tantrum proof. Adrien was knocking elbows with Nino and trying to cheer him up while he waved the two girls goodbye and headed to their classroom first. Marinette felt her cheeks heat up a little when she waved back, but she couldn’t find herself able to bring enough attention to the forefront to be a nervous wreck about it. Her mind was otherwise occupied.

“Come on, girlie,” Alya said. “We’ll figure that one out later. Oh, please tell me you actually did your physics homework this time. You’re starting to run out of excuses for why you forgot to do it, you know.”

The buzz about Lila seemed to have died down to radio silence because absolutely no one was talking about her, a complete turnaround from yesterday. Marinette almost expected to be met with a whole slew of new stories and rumors about how her mother was an astronaut or her uncle was a millionaire investment banker from America and for Lila to be the center of it all. But the bustle to class was strangely ordinary and Lila was nowhere to be found.

It wasn’t until they walked into their classroom that Marinette saw Lila sitting in the back row all the way in the corner, swiping through her tablet angrily and keeping anyone from taking the seat next to her. People were crowded around her desk yesterday, and now Marinette was rather afraid she’d get shouted at if she even tried to go up to her and say hi. The tension radiating off of her seemed to have spread to the rest of the class because everyone was either staring at her warily or pointedly ignoring her. Chloe was the only person who looked at all pleased with the arrangement, sitting at her usual spot in class and happily touching up her makeup while Sabrina was busy doing the girl’s homework.

A few of their classmates were already coming up to Alya’s desk and asking about the Ladyblog, and Alya wasted no time in catching up the rest of the class up with what she’d found out. Adrien was busy turning Nino’s headphones over in his hands and trying to think of places that he knew where he could probably get them fixed for cheap instead of having to buy new ones while Nino glowered in annoyance. A few of their other classmates were already staring pointedly at the back of the classroom where Lila was sitting and hunching over in her seat to try and seem as small as possible.

Lila looked absolutely livid, and Marinette immediately felt her guilt start to eat away at her and make her shoulders slump. She’d caused this — it didn’t matter if Lila was a liar. She’d embarrassed her in front of the person she was trying to impress and called her out on every single thing she’d said since she got here. It wasn’t as if Marinette was trying to excuse things like lying and manipulating people, but she also knew that she’d be absolutely mortified if everything she’d told her classmates had been revealed to just be a long series of elaborate lies.

Besides, she was new. Alya told Marinette how nerve wracking it can be to slip into a class dynamic that’s been solidified for years. She’d really been cruel to her.

“Alright everyone, seats please! I’d like to start on time today!”

Marinette slipped into her seat and pulled out the novel they were reading for French literature and tried to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of her head that she should do something. Sure, she may not have been Marinette’s favorite person, but she was having a hard time because of something _Marinette_ did, which meant that Marinette had to try and fix it in any way that she could. There was little to be done about the Ladybug situation — she’d sort of squashed any hope of redemption at that end, and couldn’t be offended that Lila would want nothing to do with the superhero. But maybe if she could make her time at school easier — help her make friends, help her seem more approachable again — then maybe that would fix things just a little.

Almost as if fate had read her mind, their teacher stopped her lecture and started passing handouts around the class. “These are going to be your prompts for your paired assignments due by Thursday’s session. Full sentences and proper opening sentences please, and no more than one typed page for each response. You both will be handing in one assignment. Separate amongst yourselves, but if any fights break out I _will_ make my own pairs.”

Most people decided to just turn to their neighbors while a few people began looking and shifting around. Alya had already turned to Marinette and started flipping through her own book to answer some of the first questions that were on the sheet. But Marinette was turned around and looking behind her, seeing the empty seat next to Lila and the fact that no one was attempting to go and try to work with her.

“So I’m thinking I do odd’s and you do even’s and we compare answers tonight. Sound good?” Alya frowned and poked Marinette in the shoulder. “You okay, girl?”

Marinette nibbled on her bottom lip, trying to get a plan formulating. “Yeah,” she drew out slowly. “Actually, would you mind working with Nathaneal?”

Alya lifted a brow. “Um, sure? But we always work together.”

“I know, but I have to do something.” Marinette collected her bag and her books, shifted out of the aisle, and walked up the stairs to the back of the classroom to where Lila was sitting. Nino was already whispering frantically to Alya and a few of her classmates had also turned to look at her, but she was ignoring all of it.

Lila was leaning an elbow on the desk and cradling her chin in her hand, casually flipping through the first chapter of the book they’d been given and underlining parts of the questions they’d been given. She didn’t seem to notice that Marinette was standing by her desk, so Marinette cleared her throat and waited until Lila turned to her with an unfriendly scowl.

“Hi, I don’t think we’ve ever met.” She hugged her books to her chest to try to look unthreatening and smiled sweetly as she held out her hand. “I’m Marinette. I think we’re the only two without partners.”

Lila’s eyes shot sideways and looked Marinette up and down before she sighed and turned back to her work. “I work better alone.”

Marinette wasn’t deterred. “To be honest, so do I, but it doesn’t change the fact that we need to hand this in together.”

“Then go work with someone else!” Lila snapped. She wrapped an arm around her papers, pushed them away to the other side of the table, and hunched her shoulders over them so that Marinette couldn’t see.

Marinette smirked and nodded to herself. “Okay. Then let me put it to you this way.” She pulled out the chair closest to the aisle and put her books on the table and her bag by her feet. She was already pulling her novel out and purposefully making a show of settling into her chair. “Madame Bustier is really serious about group projects. She marks down people who slack in the group or who try and do things on their own without a good reason. So if we’re both going to do well on this it has to be together. It’s your second day. You don’t want the teachers to start marking you down now.”

Lila didn’t respond while Marinette took a pen down and circled all of the even numbered questions with her pen. “Look, I’ll do these questions. You do the rest. That way the work is split in half, and we can still work on our own. We’ll put both of our names on the page and we both win. Deal?”

“Right,” Lila replied sarcastically. “Because you’re doing this for _my_ benefit.”

Marinette shrugged helplessly. “You’ll get a higher grade if you actually cooperate.”

“I don’t need you pitying me,” Lila insisted, turning back to her assignment. “I’m doing just fine on my own and I don’t need you swooping in to help me.”

Marinette scowled. “Fine. Then don’t consider it pity. Consider it me not wanting to get a bad grade and you mutually benefiting from it. You’ll breeze through school a lot easier if grades aren’t on your worry list.”

That seemed to have been the right thing to say, because Lila froze for a moment and stared down at her worksheet with a stare that was still hostile, but didn’t quite look like she was purposefully trying to burn a hole through it anymore. It wasn’t Marinette’s intention to be so curt, but she meant what she said. At the moment it was apparent that the rest of the class wasn’t exactly fond of her, and it wouldn’t have done well to add her teachers onto that list. Lila seemed to understand that much when she took her own worksheet and started to circle all of the questions that Marinette hadn’t. She slid her paper in between them right next to Marinette’s in a show of solidarity and nodded. “Fine,” she said shortly. And nothing else was said.

Marinette tried not to smile in victory, and instead started flipping through her own book in the hopes that some of her annotations would be helpful in answering some of the questions. She wasn’t deluded into thinking that cracking through Lila’s veneer was going to be as easy as starting a conversation, but at least she didn’t smack her books out of her hand or yell at her in front of the entire class. She supposed that had to have counted for something.

They were working in silence for a few minutes before Marinette happened to let her eyes wander over to Lila, who was slowly flipping through the first chapter of the novel and slowly mouthing the words on the page to herself and darting her eyes across each line as if she were skimming the words. Nothing that needed to be answered were on those pages. Marinette frowned before she cursed at herself in realization. All these questions were covering the third and fourth chapters because they’d already read the first two last week. Lila had only come to school yesterday. She was probably behind and hadn’t even started reading the book yet. And she wanted to work by herself….

Marinette took her pen and tapped Lila on the shoulder. The girl turned around and sighed tiredly. “What?”

Marinette turned to her bag, dug out the notebook that she used for French literature and opened it to the pages of notes that were devoted to the first four chapters. She slid it in between them. “Want some notes?”

Lila rolled her eyes. “No, I’m doing fine, thank you.”

“It’ll help you get started,” Marinette insisted. “That way you can catch up on the reading tonight and finish up the questions tomorrow. You must have just gotten the book today.”

Lila huffed indignantly. “Why are you helping me?” she finally asked. “Did you not get the message? No one likes me. I’ve got a certain stuck up superhero to thank for that, not that anyone cares, but the fact still stands. Are you doing this for kicks or what?”

Marinette gracefully accepted the unintentional dig at her alter ego — she honestly deserved it at this point — and smiled. “Why do you assume that I’m doing this because I want something? Maybe I’m just trying to be nice because you’re new, you haven’t been reading the book, and leaving you alone to do the project would’ve been unfair to you. No pity. Just fairness.”

Lila scoffed gently. “Fairness….”

“At the very least,” Marinette offered. “People deserve second chances, second considerations. _That’s_ fair. And it’s your second day too! Perfect day for seconds.”

That actually managed to get a small laugh out of Lila while she shook her head and absently doodled on the edge of her worksheet. “You’re oddly optimistic.”

Marinette winced. “More like stubborn, but I appreciate the good thought.” She pushed her notebook closer to Lila. “I’m serious. Take a few pictures if they’ll help. Not saying they’re extensive, but it’s better than nothing.”

Lila gave her a very small smile. “Thanks….Marinette, right?”

“Mmhm,” Marinette smiled.

Lila nibbled on her bottom lip and pointed to Marinette’s notebook while she took out her phone. “You have nice handwriting.”

“Thanks. It used to be awful when I was younger. Mama made me practice after school everyday until it was legible.”

“It’s pretty,” Lila nodded. She was snapping pictures of each page of Marinette’s notes and saving them on her phone, picking up the edges of the notebook paper carefully as if she were afraid to rip and ruin them.

They worked in pleasant silence for the rest of the class, Marinette doing small outlines of the longer responses she’d type up later tonight and Lila scribbling down notes on her own sheet that she was copying from Marinette’s notebook. Lila didn’t make any more attempts to try and start a conversation, but Marinette was fine with that. Baby steps, she kept reminding herself. These things had to come gradually. She was only half aware of the stares that she was still occasionally getting from her classmates — Chloe especially was truly perplexed by what she was witnessing but was thankfully keeping any comments she had to herself. Her phone was buzzing intermittently with texts from Alya, but she’d let her friend interrogate her later.

Marinette had outlined half of her assigned questions by the time Madame Bustier had announced that their class was over and that it was time to switch. Mathematics was next, and everyone was already starting to pack their things and filter out of the classroom. Alya had finished exchanging numbers with Nathaneal and was shouting something over to Nino while he got himself ready. She was looking back at Marinette curiously and waiting for her to join her so that they could walk together. She nodded back to Alya and held up a finger, telling her to give her one minute.

Lila was putting away her own things behind her when Marinette dropped the question. “Could I have your number?”

“What?” Lila asked defensively.

“Oh, um….so we can talk about the project.”

Lila smirked. “I thought you said we were splitting up the questions down the middle and doing everything on our own.”

“Come on,” Marinette smiled back. “Do you really trust a complete stranger with half of your grade?”

Lila snorted gently, rolling her eyes as if she were dealing with an annoying little child. Marinette was positive she was coming off as a little pushy, but at the very least it seemed to amuse Lila and that’s what was important. Lila shouldered her bag. “No I guess not.”

She was still looking at Marinette warily, and Alya was still a few steps down looking at Marinette with a look of complete bewilderment. But Marinette turned back to Lila and held up her hands up defensively. “Look, I’m not trying to do anything strange, I promise. It’s honestly just easier if we had a way to keep in contact. I do it with my other project partners all the time. It’s innocent.”

It took a few seconds of Lila fiddling with her phone in her pocket before she finally relented, unlocked her phone, and held it out to Marinette. She was about to grab the phone from her before Lila quickly pulled it away in warning. “School texts only.”

Marinette put a hand over her heart. “I swear.”

Lila nodded shortly and let Marinette take the phone so that she could put her phone number in. Once she did, Lila took it back and quickly sent Marinette a text back so that she could have her number. _Lila. For school only!_

Marinette laughed at the text and nodded. “Perfect. I guess I’ll….I’ll see you around today then, okay?”

“Sure.” With that, Lila moved past her and down the stairs, following the rest of the classroom out and to their next lesson. Marinette supposed she should’ve been offended by the rather short send off, but it was more than Lila had given anyone that day, and that was a decent start. Plus, she had her phone number now. Marinette could certainly work with that.

Alya immediately grabbed her elbow and pulled her closer to her side so that she could whisper hurriedly at her without everyone else around them hearing. “What are you planning?”

“Who said I’m planning anything?” Marinette responded innocently.

“ _I_ did. Because I know you,” Alya explained. “So spill.”

Marinette shook her head. “It’s honestly nothing. I just….I hear what you’re all saying about her lying to everyone yesterday, but she’s still a person. And she doesn’t deserve to be ostracized by everyone. Plus she’s new. I’m just….trying to make her feel welcome. I would’ve done the same for you.”

“True. And you did,” Alya conceded. “But the entire class didn’t hate me after just one day.”

“Doesn’t mean she deserves to be ignored,” Marinette said. “She’s still our classmate and we all have to live with each other.”

Alya grinned sneakily. “There’s something else, isn’t there? There has to be. Don’t get me wrong, girl, you’re a sweetheart. But you usually don’t go this out of your way for other people. What’s up?”

She obviously couldn’t tell Alya all of her justifications, so she merely shrugged. “Nothing’s up. Just trying to make the new girl feel welcome. I’m class president after all. That’s part of my job description.”

“Mmhm,” Alya replied skeptically. But she made a show of brushing her hands off. “Alright. I’ll let you do your thing. Goodness knows you love taking on little pet projects like you have the time.”

“It’s not a pet project,” Marinette insisted. “I just want to give her the benefit of the doubt. Everyone deserves that much, don’t they?”

Alya sighed fondly and brushed Marinette’s bangs from her eyes. “You’re too good for this world.”

Marinette blinked her eyes prettily at Alya. “So I’ve been told.” She tried to finish off with a hair flip, but Alya had pulled one of her pigtails loose in retaliation and laughed when Marinette looked on at her with horror. She smacked Alya’s shoulder and wrestled with the girl for a moment so that she could grab her scrunchie back. They wound up nearly running all the way to class as Marinette tried to fix her hair all while trying to keep Alya from pulling it back out again. They made it to their mathematics classroom out of breath and laughing, and Marinette had finally given up and collapsed against the wall just by the door with her hands crossed in an X. Alya grinned in victory before she grabbed one of Marinette’s scrunchies, winked, and used it to pull her own hair up in a ponytail while she walked into the classroom. Marinette stuck her tongue out at her and grinned when Alya laughed back at her.

Marinette stayed outside and started to adjust her hair — guess she was going to be sporting a bun for the day — when she looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw Lila milling about by the water fountain next to the classroom, looking at the scene that had transpired with a strange look on her face that Marinette couldn’t exactly decipher. She was staring so intently that it started to make Marinette self conscious, so she lifted a hand and waved in Lila’s direction in a show of friendliness.

Lila shook her head, frowned slightly, and merely kept her head down while she walked past her and moved inside the classroom. Lacking an excuse to sit next to Lila this time around, Marinette moved into her usual seat next to Alya in the second row. Similar to last period, Lila made her way up to the top row in the corner closest to the wall, pulled out all of her books, and kept her head down for the rest of class. She was sitting alone again.

Once the lesson started, Marinette couldn’t help but throw a few worried glances over her shoulder at the girl sitting by herself. A few times, she managed to catch Lila’s gaze before Lila scowled and pointedly turned away, but that was the most she was able to glean. She was tapping her pen distractedly against her notebook all throughout the lesson, and couldn’t concentrate hard enough on her notes to say that she got anything out of the lesson.

When the period was over, Lila was the first to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read/like/reblog the chapter on Tumblr [here](http://breeeliss.tumblr.com/post/145186537614/miraculous-ladybug-the-best-gift-in-life)  
> Follow me at breeeliss.tumblr.com


	2. Bullies & Buffers

Lila’s father said that their new apartment was going to be far more permanent than any place they’d stayed before. He’d gotten a really great position in the new company he’d been hired at, and the pay was good enough that they may not actually have to move this time around. He’d spent the entire car ride from Brussels to Paris talking about how much he adored Paris and how he could perfectly picture the two of them being happy there.

But he’d also said the same thing about Venice, Naples, London, and Berlin — in that order — and they’d barely had time to enjoy those cities before it was time for Papa to go work for another company.

To be fair, he was using his advance to furnish their apartment with a lot more attention than they’d bothered with before. He’d splurged on a few pieces of blackwood furniture and bought a few cream colored carpets that he threw across their hardwood floors in order to make the place feel “brighter” and “softer” than it looked before. There was no need to put so many personal touches in a home that would be vacated in a few months, but the gestures did little to placate Lila. She only unpacked one of her suitcases and was keeping all of her dresses and expensive blouses in the garment bags they came in just in case. She knew better.

The apartment was just a touch smaller than what she was used to, but the view from her room was a lot more breathtaking than anything she’d had in the past, and she could just see the Seine glimmering against the horizon if she went out on her tiny balcony and stood on the very tips of her toes. The sun spilled into her room every evening at around sunset, and it mixed so well with the reddish-brown color scheme she had for her room that she’d refused any efforts Papa made to give her new furniture and rugs. It was a very good call, because sitting with her window open and watching the warm light fill and empty her room was about the only solace she managed to get today.

She was catching up on her literature homework after having cleverly evaded her father’s questions about how school was. It certainly went a lot better than she thought it would — she expected a lot more sneering, whispering, and name calling to be honest — but that didn’t mean that the shock of being so popular on her first day and being virtually ignored the next didn’t make her sick to her stomach. There were a few times where she thought of running off to the bathroom and screaming until she felt better, but she didn’t want to risk drawing more attention to herself than she’d already managed.

Honestly, she’d heard stories of Ladybug before she even moved to Paris, but she didn’t think the heroine’s impeccable luck and grace could also apply to how effortlessly she could pull her social life out from under her and rip it to shreds right in her face. Lila would’ve been impressed had she not been so sore and bitter about it. Truly, such a drastic change in her standing from one day to the next all because a certain self-absorbed superhero wanted to have the last word was nothing short of incredible. And now Lila was left with the mess.

There was no way to salvage things — the entire class knew she’d made everything up, and trying to start from scratch served her no purpose anymore. It’d all been ruined far out of her control, and Papa was downstairs probably glowing at the prospect that their new home would be far more permanent and unknowingly dooming her for good.

At this point, she could only hope for a move in the near future. Leave. Start fresh. Make a new impression. Rinse. Repeat. Maybe if she stayed packed, it’d improve her chances. She’d take what she could get at this point.

In terms of what she’d do at the moment, she’d have to figure that out. She didn’t think she could last another day of school if it’d be more of what it was today. She’d sooner drive herself mad.

 _Homework, homework_ , she tried to remind herself. _That’s at least one thing you know you can do._

Lila was half-heartedly underlining a passage that she thought was important when her phone started vibrating on her desk. She grasped for it blindly, expecting it to just be another notification from one of her apps, but she frowned the moment she saw the name _‘Marinette Dupain-Cheng’_ blinking across her screen along with one new message.

**_M - How’s the book coming along? :)_ **

Lila lifted a brow and looked at the time on her phone. It had barely been an hour since school had let out. Oddly eager considering they’d only just met today and couldn’t even be properly classified as acquaintances. Yet here was Marinette tacking on bright, happy emojis like they were so familiar with each other — like she was just texting another friend after school for the evening and picking up an old conversation from where it had left off.

She scratched her fingers through her hair. As if agonizing over her social standing wasn’t bad enough, Lila didn’t know what she was supposed to do with Marinette. It was one thing to spark a conversation with someone because they were interesting. It was something else entirely to spark a conversation with a social pariah. The former was at least something Lila could make sense of. She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or skeptical, so she was stuck in this strange in between place where she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to react.

There was always the option of ignoring the text, pretending she hadn’t seen it. It would make her life easier. But something told her that Marinette would likely be walking up to her desk again during their literature block and asking her the same questions while chattering on about their project and the questions and _second chances_ and whatever else she managed to bring up today.

Deciding that text messaging was innocuous enough, Lila plucked up her phone and unlocked her screen. **_L - Just started chapter 3_ **

The ellipses on the bottom of her screen popped up almost immediately, showing that Marinette was currently typing and probably staying by her phone and waiting for Lila to text back. She snorted at the sight and again had to marvel at how insistent one person could possibly be.

**_M - Yay :) You’re almost caught up_ **

**_L - It’s a quick read_ **

**_M - Lmk when you finish the chapter. Theres a question for that chapter about the mirror allegory and I’m not sure where to start_ **

Lila frowned and doubled back to the first chapter. She squinted a little bit at her handwriting and couldn’t quite tell what she had jotted down, but she noted the page and turned back to her phone. **_L - Dont know if this helps but the beggar had this whole monologue about his reflection in the first chapter. p. 14_ **

She took a minute to respond, probably checking the page herself, and then sent Lila a heart, a thumbs up, and hands folded in prayer.

“Good god,” Lila chuckled. The girl’s emoji keyboard was probably a mess.

**_M - I almost forgot about that part!! Thanks I’ll write it in_ **

**_L - In emojis or in french?_ **

**_M - >.<_ **

**_M - Excuse you. I don’t use them that much_ **

**_L - Really? You seem a little trigger happy with them_ **

Marinette sent back a gun and a smiley face with a tongue sticking out, and Lila pocketed her phone before chuckling to herself. She was in the privacy of her room, but she still caught herself and finished off with a cough before she convinced herself that she was actually enjoying the conversation. This was just a project. They were just partners. They weren’t anything at all resembling friends. _School only_ , she repeated to herself.

**_M - Oh wow, you’re right now this makes much more sense_ **

**_M- You’re good at this_ **

**_L - I used to tutor younger students in their literature courses just before this. Comes easily to me I guess._ **

Technically a lie, but one she’d told before. Her London friends in particular thought it was absolutely charming that she tutored younger students and it was a little fib that she liked to recycle when she could since it got her so many kind words and praises at her boarding school. Besides, it was one that was half true and easy to believe. She _was_ studying in London just before this, and English literature was one of her best classes. But there was that small nudge in the back of her mind to throw in something that was just a little bit more interesting — something that could spark a conversation centered on herself, something that would make another person want to know more. Make her stand out, make her likeable. Through text, it was as easy as weaving a story.

**_M - Oh, that’s cool! Glad we’re partnered up then :)_ **

And then it all got ruined because, honestly, how was she meant to take something like that? Like all of this? Because there couldn’t be any way that someone like Marinette would be supposedly so glad to pair up with a liar shunned by her entire class over the friend that she sat next to in every class, the friend she could talk so candidly with, laugh so brightly with, and the friend she could chase down hallways even if it looked childish, even if it got them in trouble. Something like that looked so picturesque from the outside, something that Lila wanted and was trying to find before it was all ruined. It didn’t make sense that someone would want to sacrifice something like that for her.

Marinette kept saying it was all about fairness, but fairness implied even footing — a balancing of the scales, and it felt very much like Marinette was sacrificing a lot more than Lila was, and it honestly confused her to the point where she felt like just deleting the girl’s number and accepting the shoddy grade.

Everyone always wanted something from people, even if it was just the chance to say that they knew someone who had gone sky diving in Germany or had gone hiking in the Alps or had four designers from Balmain on speed dial. Why would anyone ever _risk_ something for the sake of a school project and dorky text messages?

God, with all her heart she just wanted to forget she’d even traded numbers with the girl and just ignore her completely. But her heart still did a pleasant little jump whenever her phone went off and it showed a text message. It was proof that someone — anyone — was thinking of her, was trying to communicate with her, and all the uncertainty was somehow worth that little spark of validation.

Lila was distracted by her view, and decided to push a chair out onto her balcony and play a few games on her phone to enjoy the weather and give her eyes a rest from staring at so many words for so long. But she’d only managed to get a half hour break before her phone started buzzing again. **_M - How are you with maths?_ **

Lila furrowed her brows, and she gave a quick and honest answer without meaning to.

**_L - Awful. Bad with numbers_ **

**_M - We should sit together and swap notes. I’m bad with numbers too_ **

Lila’s thoughts returned again to Marinette’s friend, and responded defensively. **_L - Isnt that what you have your friend for?_ **

Interestingly enough, for the first time that evening, the ellipses showed up, disappeared, appeared, and disappeared again before there was a whole minute of hesitation. Lila thought that she’d finally trapped her in a corner and found a hole in this whole plan, but Marinette had started typing again.

**_M - Alya doesn’t take maths notes and she’s bad at explaining. I don’t feel comfortable asking anyone else._ **

It was such a weird request. Was that even something you asked of someone? First it was a literature project, now it was sitting next to each other in mathematics. She couldn’t even claim that Marinette was overstepping a boundary because, technically, this was a conversation only about school. It was so obvious that this girl had an agenda and part of Lila wanted to be uncomfortable with it and have no part in it.

But Lila was also remembering the terrible feeling in her gut she had all day when students were literally walking up to the empty chair next to her, rolling their eyes at it, and walking away. She remembered how awful it felt having to sit on the stairs outside alone and quickly search on her maps for places where it was common to eat alone and far enough away from school that she wouldn’t bump into anyone from her class. She mostly remembered how hard it was to keep it together, so hard in fact that she had to put all the energy into snapping and glaring at people because at least all those sick, gross, ugly feelings were getting used for something.

Everyone always wanted something from people. Lila didn’t need Marinette’s friendship. But having her company in at least two classes may make the school days seem not quite so horrid.

**_L - Do what you want_ **

Lila didn’t get any more messages from Marinette and took the opportunity to spend the next two hours pouring through the rest of the book and trying to work through the mathematics problems that they had due first thing in the morning. By the time she was reduced to chewing on the end of her pencil in frustration, her father had finally called her for dinner and they spent the evening talking about his brand new job over tortelini and a tray of bruschetta. To his credit, he did try and wheedle more information out of her again— did she like her classmates? Did she make any friends? — but Lila quickly evaded the topic and insisted that everyone was perfectly lovely but that it was too soon to start thinking about friends. The less that she could give him to worry about the better.

Dinner had put her in a relatively better mood — something about finally getting to eat familiar food and speak Italian with someone who could keep up with her always perked her up despite all the latent homesickness that came with it. But when she came back to her room to turn in for the night and shut the door to her balcony, she heard whooping noises coming from the roofs of the building nearby and just happened to see Chat Noir scampering across the rooftops with a laughing Ladybug following quickly behind him. A few people from the streets were pointing up in awe at having spotted them, but Lila had locked her balcony door and shut the curtains roughly behind her.

“Showoff,” she muttered hatefully. She collapsed into her bed, hid under her sheets, and ignored her angry tears until she fell asleep.

The next day was worse, if that was even possible. All around her, hastily muttered conversations were quickly dissolving into hushes, coughs, and abrupt silences the moment Lila walked by. Chloe Bourgeois actually managed to clip her bag and sneer at her, asking her to watch where she was going otherwise she’d let her father know about the senseless bullying she was being subjected to. And that _was_ the truth. And Lila wanted so bad to just snap back at her and yell that _her_ father was a minister from England and she could pull a similar stunt just by dialing a number. But it wasn’t true, and Chloe would know it, and she’d only be hurting herself in the process.

So she blinked her eyes, forcing the frustrated tears back, and hurried down the hall towards the locker room.

“What _you’re_ the one who’s upset?” Chloe called back towards her. Lila forgot they were in the same class going in the same direction. Chloe was walking slowly down the hall right at Lila’s back. “You know, you have some nerve.”

Lila sighed and tried to throw her hair over her shoulder to hide her face.

“You come in here and totally pull the wool over everyone’s eyes, betray _everyone_ who liked you so much — although God knows why — and now you think you have the right to be in a bad mood? This is ridiculous.”

Lila rolled her eyes and finally got to her locker, quickly spinning in the combination and switching out her books as quickly as she could manage. Maths. History. Literature. Books in. Books out. Get to class. Don’t lose your cool.

“Are you even listening to me?” Chloe kept on. “Hey, did you hear me, I better be getting an apology for bumping into me and for making me believe that you were _at all_ as interesting as you said. A song by Jagged Stone? I knew that wasn’t true, how on Earth did I ever think that could be true? Hello!?”

Lila slammed her locker closed and turned to Chloe with her books pressed to her chest. “I’m going to class.”

She moved past her and was making her way out of the locker room to go keep her head down in their next class and hope that she’d just turn invisible by the end of the day and avoid all of this annoying gossiping in her face. But Chloe wasn’t letting up. She was still leaning against her locker and purposefully talking to her friend loud enough for Lila and everyone else in the room to hear.

“It’s amazing what people think they can get away with these days,” Chloe kept on. “Everyone adores _me_ because I can actually back up all the things I say. As if people think they can just come in here and say whatever they want and just wait for the entire class to fall all over them. She must be deranged if she actually thought it would help her fit in more. So pathetic. Honestly. The most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Lila’s nails were digging into her books and she already had a scatching insult ready on the tip of her tongue for her to fling at Chloe. She’d already turned on her heel and felt her heart beating from the anticipation of finally letting it out on someone so that she wouldn’t have to carry around the bitterness all day. But the moment the first note of her anger left her throat, someone from across the locker room started laughing.

It distracted Lila completely, and Chloe must have thought the same thing because her head snapped in the direction of Marinette, taking her books out of her locker and chuckling to herself the entire time.

Chloe was glaring. “Can I _help_ you Marinette?”

Marinette grinned sarcastically. “Oh nothing, Chloe. I just think it’s funny that you’re lecturing other people on being liars when you’re a liar yourself.”

Chloe was clicking her nails against her locker in annoyance and spat at the other girl. “No one was involving you in this conversation.”

But Marinette was tapping her finger thoughtfully against her chin and searching the ceiling for answers. “Gosh, what was it that you said during the bowler hat competition….something about you making that hat all by yourself.” She smiled condescendingly at Chloe. “Oh that’s right. I forgot! That was _my_ design you stole and tried to pull off as your own. Unseccessfully, might I add. It’s _amazing_ what people think they can get away with these days.”

“Shut up, Marinette, that has nothing to do with any of this!”

“Oh I think it does,” Marinette continued, shouldering her bag and heading for the exit of the locker room. “Because it’s funny hearing a hypocrite go on and on about other people’s dishonesty when they’ve been dishonest themselves. Or did you forget that time when you blackmailed the entire class into not running against you, the time you accused me of stealing your bracelet and trying to get me suspended, or maybe that time where you ruined my Uncle’s soup during that cooking competition because the thought of him actually winning was just too — ”

“Oh, just….get over yourself Marinette!” Chloe snapped, but her face was flushed in embarrassment and she was already pushing her bag into the chest of her friend and storming out of the locker room. She managed to get in one last shove against Lila’s shoulder before she left the room, muttering the entire way.

Marinette rolled her eyes and looked past Lila’s shoulder. “Ignore her. She likes to pretend she can do no wrong and that everyone loves her, but she couldn’t be more off track.”

Lila grimaced. “Interesting….”

“Are you alright?” Marinette asked, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Lila shrugged it off and slipped into the hallway. “Fine. But I don’t need you coming to my rescue every time, you know. I could’ve handled it.”

Marinette wasn’t deterred, instead opting to jog next to Lila and try to stay in step with her. “It wasn’t a matter of coming to your rescue. I just don’t like it when Chloe gets a big head. It’s the principle of the thing.”

“How noble of you,” Lila snorted.

“I don’t think it’s all that noble to be honest,” Marinette said self consciously. “Most of the time, it’s just because she gets on my nerves and embarrassing her back is the only thing she responds to.”

Lila glanced sideways at Marinette. “I kinda thought she was really popular around here.”

“She thinks she is,” Marinette corrected. “Her father is the mayor, so she likes to think that means everyone loves her and that she has the right to boss people around. But I can’t think of many people who actually like her. Ignorance is bliss.”

Lila almost wanted to say that she’d much rather prefer that option, of at the very least thinking that she was popular and loved even if she wasn’t. But Lila was good at lying to other people and not so much at lying to herself, and she knew that she was just going to be stuck with the way things were unless she could figure out a way to fix everything. But she didn’t bother telling Marinette any of that, least of all while they were almost to their classroom and about to start the day. That was the kind of sentimentality she was trying to avoid projecting on anyone at the moment.

They walked in silence until Marinette gently bumped her elbow with Lila’s. “Caught up on the literature project?”

“Caught up on the book,” Lila answered, not minding the switch to a safer topic. “Stared at the questions for a bit, but didn’t start on any of them.”

“That’s okay!” Marinette grinned. “We still have class time today and tonight to finish them. With the two of us it shouldn’t be too hard right?”

“Guess not.”

A few of their classmates were already sitting in their seats, and they were giving the strangest looks when they saw that Marinette was walking into class with Lila, and were downright puzzled when they saw her pass her usual seat to head to the back of the classroom. Marinette merely nodded to her friend Alya and waited for her to nod back with a smile before she moved up to the back desk to sit with Lila like she had promised. No one was saying anything in response to the sight and merely turned back to their respective conversations, no one daring to gossip about her while she was in the room. She wondered if it had to do with Marinette, or if everyone in the class just had the decency to be discrete.

But then Chloe finally came into the classroom and was already making her way up the stairs as if she were going to stop by Lila’s desk and continue on her previous rant. But Lila watched Marinette glare in Chloe’s direction and make a show of opening her maths book and setting out all of her pens and pencils with definitive slaps against the table, and Chloe merely growled to herself and went back to her seat, muttering the entire time about Lila didn’t really feel like knowing much about.

Some of her classmates were waving at Marinette as they came in, staring at Lila carefully but otherwise acting as if she just wasn’t there. Adrien had come into the classroom and smiled brightly at Marinette — which actually led to Marinette blushing, Lila noted with interest — and actually nodded tentatively in Lila’s direction before he took his own seat. But Marinette didn’t even seem to notice half of it. She was just flipping through yesterday’s maths notes and redoing the problems that they were given during class before the teacher walked in.

It certainly wasn’t much, but as she suspected, being with Marinette made a difference. Whether Marinette realized that or not — whether she realized how much influence her presence seemed to have — Lila had to acknowledge how much easier it made things.

“Thanks,” Lila said quietly, deciding to buck up her pride. “For….helping with maths. It’s a ridiculous subject, so….”

Marinette smiled brightly, her cheeks pulling up and squinting her eyes with sincerity. “I agree. And it’s no trouble.”

Lila was pulling out her own books and finding a clean page to take notes. “I’m warning you in advance,” she started. “I don’t know how much help I’ll be. I wasn’t kidding. I’m awful at this subject.”

“You can’t possibly be worse than me,” Marinette answered. “Most of these equations are all gobbledygook to me. Two brains have to better than one. Or at the very least, we can suffer in company.”

Lila snorted, deciding to take the double meaning that Marinette hadn’t realized she’d made. “That just sounds like twice the suffering and not very much problem solving.”

“Pessimist.”

“It’s like taking two people with broken legs, putting them together, and saying that they’re going to win a running race.”

Marinette pouted. “We hardly have broken legs. We have….sprained ankles.”

“I’m still failing to see the advantage.”

“Shush. What did you get for the first homework problem?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read/like/reblog the chapter on Tumblr [here](http://breeeliss.tumblr.com/post/145428701354/miraculous-ladybug-the-best-gift-in-life)  
> Follow me at breeeliss.tumblr.com


	3. Everyone Has Reasons

Lila may have been right about the teaming up for maths idea — most of their time doing class exercises was spent with the two of them quibbling over their different yet equally wrong answers — but Marinette personally thought that Lila was at least enjoying herself. It was funny seeing Lila scrunch her nose up after realizing that despite her adamant insistence that her answer was right, she’d forgotten a variable somewhere and botched the problem. Marinette was at the brunt of most of the teasing — she went through five problems saying that five times six was thirty-five and Lila found that particularly amusing — but she didn’t mind it much.

It was refreshing to see the other girl at ease even if it was just during one class period. But Marinette couldn’t come up with a good excuse for sitting next to Lila in history during their next class, and Alya always looked at Marinette’s notes in that class because it was the girl’s weakest subject. Marinette kept looking over her shoulder so much during history, slowly watching the energy from last period completely seep out of Lila until she looked very much like she did on her second day here. It was frustrating, like Marinette kept taking two steps forward only to be pushed three steps back every time.

Marinette thought of inviting her to lunch, but she remembered that she’d promised to eat with Alya at the bakery that afternoon— which meant that Nino was coming, which meant that _Adrien_ was coming, and she’d decide between killing or hugging Alya for that later — and she didn’t want to subject Lila or her friends to that. Besides, the girl had done what she’d done yesterday and flounced out of the classroom as quickly as she could, head high but dutifully ignoring the people around her.

The drastic shift was so confusing, and Marinette just wanted to understand. But it wasn’t the sort of thing she could just ask and expect answers to, so Marinette had to accept the frustrating helplessness that came with wanting to make a difference but not being able to.

She realized she’d forgotten her literature essays in her room and told Alya that she’d run ahead and get them before meeting them downstairs for lunch. More than anything, it felt like she needed to regroup. It was like she was getting somewhere and not at the same time.

Marinette asked her mother is she could spare some sandwiches and a few cheese danishes for lunch before she ran upstairs and collapsed into her desk chair. She quickly stuffed her literature essays in her bag before she forgot them again and pulled out her sketch book. She turned to the back page and wrote in big letters on the top of the page, “Friend Activities.”

Tikki was peeking her head out of Marinette’s purse on the desk and staring at the few items that Marinette started to jot down — _studying, lunch date, invitation to house??_ “Please don’t tell me this is going to be like the ‘Safe Topics to Talk to Adrien About’ list you have on the next page.”

Marinette pouted. “Stop teasing me about that! And this is different. I’m actually going to attempt some of these. Hopefully successfully if I have anything to say about it.” _Sleepovers?_ Marinette thought. _That was probably too much too quick. Best put that at the bottom._

“Why are you planning this out so furiously?” Tikki asked. “If you’re trying to just be friends with someone, you shouldn’t rush it. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen naturally.”

“But this is different, Tikki,” Marinette moaned. “This isn’t like befriending Alya. That was like breathing, it happened so easily. But Lila is….a lot more tentative than that.” She wrote down _Mutual hangout w/ friends_ but made sure to underline it and put a lot of stars next to it because that also seemed like such a huge step. There had to be other smaller things she could do. _More texting. Video chats?_

“I know you want to help Marinette, and it’s because you really are such a sweet girl. But you also shouldn’t force these types of things.”

Marinette sighed and stared down at Tikki. She pulled out the small tin of snickerdoodles that she kept in her bag today and handed a couple to her while she sat on Marinette’s desk and started nibbling quietly. “It’s not just being friends that I’m working towards. You saw it. I was absolutely awful to her. I owe her an apology. The least I can do for ruining her reputation is to at least try to get her to warm up to others and make her days not seem quite so terrible. It might be a little elaborate, but I don’t want to screw it up. I’m trying to be careful.”

Tikki seemed like she either understood that much, or decided not to press on about it to Marinette any further. She scooted closer to Marinette’s hand on the desk and spoke through her mouthful of cookies. “I can tell when you’re not feeling well, Marinette. You seem conflicted about something. What’s wrong?”

She started absently scribbling on the margins of the page and nibbled on her lip. “She’s alone. No one deserves that. I want to help….”

Tikki smiled knowingly. “But?”

Marinette groaned and threw her arms wide. “She had to have known she’d get caught! Lying about such big, elaborate things, there was no way she thought she would get away with that. I mean, _why?_ ”

Tikki shrugged her tiny shoulders. “Maybe the reason she was lying outweighed the risk of her getting caught. And maybe that reasoning is still worth all of the grief she’s getting. That’s why it’s so hard for her to warm up to you.”

“But that’s so….so….ugh.” Marinette buried her face in her hands. “That’s so bull headed.”

Tikki giggled. “Pride is a powerful thing, Marinette. And I’m sure you understand what it’s like to want something fiercely enough.”

Marinette chuckled at the insinuation and rubbed her finger against Tikki’s cheek. “I just wish I knew what that reason is. I mean, what could be better than just telling the truth and being honest with the people you’re trying to get to know.”

“People sometimes have complicated reasons for things that may only make sense to them. You don’t have to accept it or like it, but it might help you understand.” Tikki rubbed her hand on Marinette’s thumb. “But you have to let her tell you that herself. Don’t force it out. Don’t think too hard on it. Just let things happen on their own.”

Marinette puffed her cheeks out and stared down at her list. “You make everything sound so simple and sensible. How do you do that?” she smiled.

“Lots of life experience,” Tikki winked. “Though, if it makes you feel better, I don’t see why you can’t keep the list. For ideas only!”

“Gotcha,” Marinette laughed. “Brainstorming only. No rushing things. I think I can handle that.”

“Good,” Tikki grinned. “You better pack up. I’m sure your friends are already downstairs waiting for you.”

Marinette petted Tikki on the head one last time in thanks before she let her slip back into her purse. She collected her bags and headed downstairs to find Alya, Nino, and Adrien already sitting around a table by the large windows in the bakery, laughing loudly at something Nino had said. There was already a platter of sandwiches made with the fresh bread that Papa baked this morning, filled with meats and melted cheese, and a fresh, steaming plate of danishes waiting on the counter for Marinette to pick up. Her father was at the register this afternoon, and he put the danishes in her hand and sent her a wink before nudging her over to her friends.

There was an empty seat between Alya and Adrien — _Breathe, Marinette, breathe_ — and she sat down with them, probably looking decidedly more flushed, and placed the tray of sweets in between them all.

“Are these fresh!?” Adrien exclaimed, suddenly looking ten times happier than he had been before she’d come.

“Um….y-yeah, Papa just pulled them up. I mean _out!_ Out the oven,” Marinette stumbled.

“Fantastic. Thanks Marinette.” He sent her a sunny smile and Marinette stumbled over a ‘you’re welcome’ before smiling back at him. He was already taking a huge bite of the new treats when Nino started laughing at him.

“Dude, did your parents never teach you to eat your food first and leave dessert for later?”

Adrien glared at him and spoke through a mouthful. “I’ve been on a low carb diet for the past month. I’m entitled, darn it.”

Alya chortled. “Let the model have his cheat day. I’m afraid if you take it away from him, there might be tears.”

“W-We always have extras of this stuff, you know” Marinette piped out. “If you want me to get you more, I’m sure I can ask Papa.”

“Might be a good idea,” Alya said. “I think he just inhaled that last one.” Adrien made a face at her and ignored the comment.

Nino turned to Marinette just as she was taking a bite of her own lunch. “So. Now that we’re all convened. How’s your little charity case going? And any word on if she’s going to pay for my headphones or not?”

Marinette forgot her nervousness and quickly switched over into annoyance. “Don’t call her that. And one thing at a time. I’m trying to work up to us being acquaintances at the moment. Getting her to hand you a wad of cash is way off the table.”

“Do you blame me for asking?” Nino complained.

Adrien swallowed. “He’s in a bit of a money hole at the moment. Excuse his snappishness.”

Marinette kicked her feet back and forth. “I understand, really. But, I don’t think that’s a good idea to bring up. She’s a little defensive because of everything that happened and I doubt asking for apologies is the right direction to take. I mean, I kinda just want to start with making her a little less….prickly.”

Alya laughed and jutted her thumb over to Adrien. “Send Adrien her way, then. I’m sure she’ll perk right up. Wasn’t she super interested in you the first day of school?”

Marinette dug her elbow into Alya’s side, but Adrien rolled his eyes and groaned. “Don’t remind me. She rivaled Chloe in the ‘Coming on Too Strong’ department.”

“I dunno Alya,” Nino said. “Only person she talks to nowadays is Marinette.”

“I agree,” Adrien said. “Besides, I doubt I’ll be much help in the situation. She looks kinda annoyed with me if I’m being completely honest.”

Marinette turned to him and frowned. “Annoyed with you?”

“I mean, it was kind of obvious she was trying to impress me,” Adrien reasoned. “And I was right there when Ladybug said she was lying about everything. She’s probably embarrassed. Besides, I think she kinda caught onto the fact that I didn’t return her feelings.” Marinette felt bad for breathing a sigh of relief at hearing that, but she couldn’t deny the ease that had washed over her hearing that small bit of information.

“Dude, you said that to her?” Nino asked.

“No, not explicitly, but I mean….when we were talking, Ladybug came up, and she seemed so dead set on measuring up to her, or making her seem just as if not more interesting. Like that kind of thing even mattered. It didn’t really work like I’m sure she wanted it to.”

“She wanted you to think she was cool and interesting and different from all the other girls,” Alya said, crossing her arms. “Oldest play in the book. Not surprising in the least. Girl probably thrives on it.”

Marinette suddenly remembered what Tikki had just told her upstairs and quickly came to Lila’s defense. “You’re not born an attention seeker, though,” she reasoned. “It’s gotta be more complicated than that. There’s a reason for everything. I mean, come on, she’s a proud little fox licking her wounds in the corner because she got caught. You’d only risk that for something worth it.”

“Well, what’s worth it?” Alya countered. “Why try so hard to get people at school to like you?”

Marinette shrugged helplessly and chewed on her food in thought. “....that’s what I want to know too.” It may have been a selfish gain, one spurred on purely by curiosity, but Marinette was convinced that it was just another way of getting to know Lila better. And it was only by getting to know Lila better that she could try and be friends with her and maybe fix what she’d caused. It was all part of her long plan to try and do some good, show some good faith, and make the girl feel welcomed. Making friends had come much easier to Alya and Adrien — they’d done rather well on just their first day, and Marinette was sure it was because they were kind, honest, and outgoing people that were hard to not get along with. But, even if Lila wasn’t those things, she was just as deserving of people in her life, Marinette was almost positive. There was an understandable reason behind all of this, she knew there had to be.

“Maybe it’s a family thing?” Nino tried. “Like her parents don’t give her enough attention or something?”

Alya shrugged. “I guess. Maybe she was bullied at her other schools and she needs to compensate. You know. Start over fresh, but like, being really extra about it.”

“I mean, she’s new. Everyone’s nervous about making friends when they’re new. I know I was,” Adrien mentioned. “Maybe she was just trying too hard.”

None of those options sat well with Marinette, and she sincerely hoped that none of them were true. Adrien never said this sort of thing out loud, but Marinette knew that his home life wasn’t ideal and that it was a fight for him to even get to go to public school. If memorizing his schedule told her anything, it was that he was incredibly busy boy that had no time to breathe because of everything his father made him do. But Adrien managed to stay sweet and thoughtful throughout it all. Maybe that was just who he is. But maybe that meant that Lila was in a situation that was just as bad if not worse if it would cause her to risk so much and go so far to be liked by the people around her. It made Marinette sick to her stomach, and her motives were only emboldened by the possibility.

Marinette frowned. “We shouldn’t gossip about her like this,” she told everyone. “It’s not fair to her. I’m sure she gets enough of it at school.”

Nino grimaced. “I guess you’re right. Although, it’s dying down thanks to you. People respect you. They’re not gonna do that sort of thing with you around. Might actually be a good thing that you’re doing this.”

“Look, I know you guys aren’t really fond of her, and I don’t blame you,” Marinette explained. “I’m not asking you to be friends with her, but….please go easy on her. And if you can, tell everyone else too. Any little bit of push helps. Can you promise?”

Alya was ripping up the bread of her sandwich on her plate and looking quite like she was going to say no with the way her face was screwed up into such a serious, thoughtful look. But she sighed, and made sure to make eye contact with Marinette when she spoke. “Okay. I trust you. I’ll try and call off the dogs as best I can.”

Marinette and Alya looked to Nino who was staring between the two of them, looking horribly conflicted, before he groaned and threw his hands up in the air. “Yeah, whatever, okay. But don’t expect me to go out of my way for her. She still acted super mean.”

“No need,” Marinette said, shaking her head. “Whatever you’re comfortable with.” She turned to her left and felt her voice grow just a bit smaller. “Adrien?”

He smiled softly back at her and answered immediately. “I’ll do what I can. I can maybe even help get Chloe off your back a little bit. I know she’s not easy to deal with.”

“Thanks,” Marinette grinned at him. She turned to the rest of the table. “Really guys, thanks.”

“Hey, I’m just taking your lead on this one,” Alya reasoned. “You seem really serious about this. But, if you don’t mind my saying….you can’t do all the work.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, that Adrien, Nino, and I are going to help you out like we said we would, and you’re of course gonna try to soften out all the harsh edges with her and hopefully make her more approachable. But there’s only so much that the four of us can do to try and help her image around here. She has to put in the work too. She has to help this along. Otherwise it’s not going to work and then everything we’re doing right now isn’t worth it. Might be a good thing to nudge her way.”

* * *

It was the last day that they were allowed to work on their literature project, and Madame Bustier was only allowing them the first half of the block to smooth out any kinks that needed to be addressed before a hand in tomorrow. They were walking through the halls to their classroom, still nibbling on the leftover pastries and listening to Nino read aloud one of his responses to see if it sounded coherent and was absent of any spelling errors since Madame Bustier was getting in the habit of marking him down for it. It led to Adrien insisting that, no, you can’t put commas every other word “just to be safe,” Nino insisting that it was better to have them then not, and Alya making faces and quippy commentary that had Marinette practically in tears and wheezing for relief. They didn’t realize how loud they were being into they collapsed into the classroom only a couple of minutes before class started and heard their voices echo in the much quieter classroom.

Alya bumped hips with Marinette and jutted her chin to the back of the classroom before giving her a small thumbs up and moving to sit next to Nathanael. She looked up to see Lila vigorously writing in one of her notebooks with the rest of her books spread out like she’d been set up for a while. It seemed like she wasn’t the only one staring because she saw Nino shrug out of the corner of her eyes as he passed her to sit in his regular seat. Adrien sent her a sympathetic smile, laid his hand on her shoulder for a moment, and slid into his own seat.

It wasn’t until Marinette walked right up to her desk that she realized Lila had earbuds in her ears while she was working on something rather studiously. Marinette tapped Lila on the shoulder and watched her jump a little in surprise as she whipped her head around. Lila pulled her headphones out and Marinette could just gently hear a song filtering out of them that she’d heard on the radio. Marinette grinned. “Hello again.”

Lila’s lips quirked up a little. “Hi. Is class starting?”

“Just about,” she said, moving to sit in her normal seat. “I think we only get half the class period this time though. I was feeling productive last night after I stopped texting so I finished all of my essays. I can help you with yours.”

Lila cleared her throat. “I’m actually almost done with my last one now.”

Marinette furrowed her brows. “Wait, but you said this morning you hadn’t even started.”

Lila shrugged and pushed the papers towards Marinette. “I mean, I have to type them up to make them look nice tonight like you do. But that shouldn’t take long.”

Marinette took the sheets of paper and flipped through the six full responses that she’d written out, looking rather impressed. She skimmed over a few of the introductory lines and was rather pleased to see that they looked great, probably better than what Marinette had managed with her own questions. “When did you do these? They look great!”

“During lunch. I mean, it’s a two hour block, it was plenty of time to get them done.”

“Wait,” Marinette said. “During lunch? Did you eat?”

Madame Bustier had walked in at that moment and was beginning to tell them when they had to stop working on their projects before the next lesson began, and Lila eyed the front of the classroom carefully as she whispered a response. “I grabbed a croissant from a cafe nearby. I’m fine.”

The answer was hardly satisfying so Marinette reached down into her bag, shuffled around for the napkins she’d stuffed into the side pocket, and took out a small case of the cheese danishes that were leftover from lunch that she’d planned on sharing during their last period. She quietly pulled out a pastry from the bag and discreetly put it on Lila’s desk so that their teacher wouldn’t see. “Here. Have something sweet to keep your energy up. It’s not good to skip meals like that.”

Lila was already trying to push it back across their desk. “Look, no, I’m fine. I’m not even hungry.”

Marinette smirked. “Come on. They’re good, trust me! Straight from my parents’ bakery, my Papa swears by them. And I have more if you want any.”

Lila looked like she wanted to protest or even push her chair away to get away from Marinette’s wheedling, but Marinette grabbed one and ripped it open so that the pastry flaked apart and the melted cheese oozed out. She laughed when she saw Lila raise a brow at it and bite the corners of her cheeks like she were seriously contemplating some life changing decision. But she supposed her hunger won out because she muttered something before grabbing the pastry and taking a bite out of it roughly. She looked like she took a bite out of spite, but Marinette almost cackled in victory when she saw Lila’s chewing slow down as if she had just realized the taste. Lila saw Marinette’s satisfied look and groaned. “Shut up.”

“Delicious, right? What did I tell you?”

“I’m eating these to get you off my back so that we can work. Stop _staring_ like that.”

“You _liiiike_ them! It’s okay, everyone does. They’re really popular. Papa always has to make a ton of batches. I think he did something different with the filling this time around though. What do you think?”

Lila huffed at the familiarity, but took another bite and chewed on it pensively. “....they’re pretty good.”

“I’ll pass on the message,” Marinette teased. She pulled out her own essays and started flipping through the pages until she found the first one. “As much as the idea of you skipping lunch to do work bothers me, I guess we don’t need to do much in class then. Wanna just edit for grammar in the meantime?”

Lila shrugged. “Whatever you say.”

They traded their essays back and forth in silence, which at this point Marinette didn’t seem to mind at all so long as it made Lila comfortable. At the very least, Lila was filling up the space between them with occasional wrinkles of bakery paper every time she took bites of the pastry Marinette gave her. She tried not to smile too much and make too big a deal out of it when Lila reluctantly asked for another one, but Marinette was learning to see every little thing as progress — from accepting pastries, to confidently correcting some of Marinette’s sentences, to thanking her for the edits Marinette made in return. She couldn’t really pretend to be picky when Nino’s statement from lunch was starting to become a lot more apparent: Marinette was probably the only person that Lila would even dare do this sort of thing with, no matter how trivial. Tikki was probably right. That had to count for something. There was no need to push it.

Lila was nibbling on the end of her pen when she asked something out of the blue. “Does he make zeppoles?”

Marinette finished skimming over the sentence she was reading before tilting her head towards Lila. “What was that?”

“Your dad. The bakery,” Lila repeated. “Do you make zeppoles?”

Marinette tapped her pen against her chin. “I’ve never heard of them. What are those?”

Lila cupped both of her hands together. “They’re like, uh….they’re little balls of fried dough. With powdered sugar on top. And you fill them with stuff. The pastry cream ones are the best in my opinion. But the pastry cream they put in cannolis.”

Marinette jutted out her bottom lip and shook her head. “No, I don’t think we have anything like that. I dunno if my father knows any Italian recipes.”

“Oh,” Lila said, deflating a little. “I mean, it’s fine. Just….my dad and I have been looking for a bakery around here that makes good ones. So far no luck.”

Suddenly, Marinette desperately wished that her father knew how to make zeppoles and was wondering if it was a little too much to look up the recipe for them to try at home. But she forgot about that and tried to use the tip that Lila gave her. “You’re from Italy?”

“Originally, yeah. But Papa and I move around a lot.”

Marinette nodded knowingly. “Right. You mentioned something about living in London too, right?”

Lila nodded. “For a bit.”

She was giving short, clipped answers, but something was something. “If you find a good bakery, tell me. I’d like to try some.”

Lila shook her head. “Nah. You have to go to Rome or Sicily. They’re the best there. Fresh every morning. Papa used to buy fresh batches every morning and they were so hot the sugar on them was melting a little. So they’d be nice and gooey in your mouth and everything. Perfect with coffee in the mornings too. Sometimes, on the holidays, we’d melt a bunch of chocolate on the stove and just dip them inside and eat them over the counter before the chocolate got everywhere.”

Lila looked like she was about to launch into another sentence, but she must have seen the way Marinette was smiling at her because she suddenly stopped and started fiddling with the ends of her hair. It was probably the longest conversation she’d had with Lila in person, and Marinette was almost sad that Lila had stopped talking. She saw a little bit of the girl that showed up the first day of class — the one that was confident, loved talking about herself, could probably go on and on about the things she liked for as long as people would listen. She was suddenly reminded of those times Marinette would grin and chuckle quietly when Alya was updating her blog in front of her and ranting on about the new Ladybug scoop she’d gotten. It was the kind of joy you got from seeing people talk about things they enjoyed. She didn’t she’d see the day.

Marinette couldn’t help but comment. “Do you miss it?”

“Hm?”

“Italy. I’ve never lived anywhere but here, so I dunno what it’s like to be away from home for so long. It must be hard.”

Lila sighed like she had something heavier she wanted to say, but didn’t want to fill the conversation with it. “...yeah.”

Marinette tried to push gently. “Why….why did you leave?”

She could see Lila trying to come up with an answer that wasn’t too personal. “Papa has to move. It doesn’t matter what I think. It has nothing to do with me. So….here I am, I guess.” She wrinkled her nose and passed off her last essay. “Here, we only have a few minutes left. This is the last essay.”

But Marinette wasn’t interested in working anymore. “I’m sorry.”

“Look, don’t do that,” Lila insisted. “It’s not anything you need to apologize for, it just is what it is.”

She couldn’t exactly argue with that logic so Marinette nodded and decided to let the issue be. “How do you like Paris? Might not compare to….well, you know. But still.”

Lila took Marinette’s last essay and decided to finish up her work even if Marinette wasn’t interested in continuing it. “It’s new,” she said absently, and left it at that.

“It’s a beautiful city,” Marinette told her. “Lots of caring, passionate people. You’ll love it once you get used to it.”

Lila scoffed gently. “....sure.”

She didn’t think that another person’s homesickness was something you could feel, but Marinette could feel her chest aching for her. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be forced to pick up from Paris one day and move away to a strange country, learn a new language, and have to give up all of your favorite things. Sitting by the Eiffel Tower to sketch, being able to get fresh baguettes every morning from her father, swinging through the city at night as Ladybug with Chat Noir next to her, making silly jokes and flirting ridiculously in the background. God, she didn’t think she’d be able to handle that at all. She was so ingrained in this city, and she imagined Lila must’ve known what that felt like.

It could have been the reason Marinette was looking for. It might not be at all. But all Marinette was thinking was that Lila looked so happy talking about home, and pulled back so terribly when she realized that none of that was at her fingertips anymore. Marinette knew that she really didn’t want Lila to have to look like that anymore.

She blurted out her next question. “Do you know your way around?”

Lila slowly raised a brow and turned to Marinette. “Why?”

Marinette bit her lips nervously. “Do you….want a mini-tour?”

Lila actually laughed in disbelief. “I think my father covered that. I’ve seen the Louvre probably more than you have.”

But Marinette waved away the comment. “Well then you get the Marinette Tour. No big, touristy, showing off. Just….show you around the neighborhood. Favorite shops. Best places to go for walks. Cool study spots. I promise I’ll keep it small.”

 _“Why?”_ Lila repeated pointedly, looking genuinely confused.

“Well, why not?” Marinette shrugged. “I’m free Saturday. Let’s meet then okay?”

“Look,” Lila started to explain. “I really am fine.”

But Marinette wasn’t about to be deterred. “I’ll pay for lunch!” she blurted out a little too loudly. “And you get out the house for the day. I checked the weather. Supposed to be a gorgeous day on Saturday.”

Lila gave up correcting the essay she was holding and looked up at the ceiling in annoyance. “I’m good inside, thanks.”

“That’s fine,” Marinette said instead. “We can take the bus and just look at indoors stuff. There’s plenty I can still show you.”

This time, Lila slammed her pen down on the table and turned her entire body towards Marinette. “ _Mio dio_ , you don’t give up, do you?”

She supposed Marinette was supposed to be shrinking back at the moment, but she was secretly thrilled that at least all of her bothering was going somewhere. She grinned widely. “Alya tells me it’s an annoying and endearing quality of mine.”

“And you’re gonna harass me over text if I keep saying no, aren’t you?”

Marinette looked away innocently. “Harass is a strong word, I’m not that rude. But I do have your phone number, and I’ll just leave it at that.”

Lila leaned her elbows against the table and buried her face in her hands, muttering something in between her fingers that Marinette couldn’t make out. She stayed like that for a few moments, rubbing her temples and mentally warring with herself before she popped up and held her hands up in defeat. “God….fine. _Fine!_ But just us. And only for an hour. That’s _one_ hour. And I’m going straight home no matter what you say. End of story.”

Marinette took what she could get and clasped her hands together. “Perfect!! I’ll text you details later.”

Lila looked like she wanted to say something else, but their teacher had interrupted their work to start the lesson for the rest of the block, and their conversation was cut short. She was sure that the other girl was a little annoyed at herself for agreeing, but Marinette was thrumming with satisfaction. It wasn’t exactly an idea that Marinette had woken up with this morning, but she was glad that she had blurted it out. Maybe this would be a good thing. Talking to Lila away from school and away from all the heaviness of everyone’s attention on her at all hours of the school day might make her more at ease, and maybe make her feel more comfortable with Marinette at school. It might very well turn out to be a total disaster, but Marinette was glad that she at least had the chance to try.

At the end of the lesson, Alya immediately pushed herself up from her chair and, instead of waiting for Marinette by the door, starting walking up the stairs until she was stopped in front of Marinette and Lila’s desk. Lila for a very brief moment physically shrunk back away from Alya’s presence, but covered it up with a roll of her shoulders as if she were just rolling out her tension and focused on putting her books away. But Alya merely placed a hand on Marinette’s shoulder and looked in Lila’s direction. “Hey,” she said brightly. “Gonna borrow her for the rest of the day. ‘Kay?”

Lila didn’t say anything in response. She zipped up her bag rather harshly, shoved her chair under her desk, and bustled past Alya while she made her way to the doorway of the classroom. Marinette was even shocked by the sudden coldness and didn’t blame Alya for the long whistle she gave in return. “Touchy…”

“Give her time,” Marinette asked. “But thanks for trying.”

“Hey, I give what I get,” she explained. “She needs to warm up a little if she expects to get anywhere with anyone.”

Marinette jogged down the stairs and out of the classroom so that they could head to the library during their sports block. “Well, I may potentially have a solution to that.”

“Really?” Alya said in surprise.

“Yeah. Wanna help me plan an itinerary?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read/like/reblog the chapter on Tumblr [here](http://breeeliss.tumblr.com/post/145839978094/miraculous-ladybug-the-best-gift-in-life)  
> Follow me at breeeliss.tumblr.com


	4. Not So Scary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the little hiatus. I was busy last week writing a story for Marinette Week. If fluffy Adrinette is up your alley, definitely go check it out :)

“This is stupid, this is stupid, this is so _stupid_.”

Lila was nervously biting on her thumb nail and pacing back and forth in front of the school, staring down at the last text that Marinette had sent her that morning, asking her to meet her in front of their school at noon so that she could show Lila around like she promised. It was completely non-threatening, dripping in emojis just like Marinette’s texts always were — and it was honestly so difficult to take that kind of thing seriously — , but it all still made Lila want to bolt back home, burrow under her covers, and pretend she was sick.

She’d shown up abysmally early out of restlessness and had been waiting here for half an hour already, going back and forth between leaving and scolding herself to just stay because it really wasn’t a big deal. She still had ten minutes before Marinette showed up, and she was currently on her “this is ridiculous and you still have time to bail” phase of her nervousness. Lila was eyeing the other end of street where she could very easily catch a bus in the next couple of minutes and get herself back home with no harm or no foul. But just like every other time she contemplated that, she rolled her eyes and kept pacing around.

She put her phone in her pocket and tugged at her bun in frustration. It wasn’t that she was scared necessarily. Spending time with Marinette wasn’t the issue here. Marinette herself was peculiar but pretty non-threatening. All their time sitting together during Maths and Literature — even after their project was finished and submitted — killed any and all nerves she would’ve had around that. It even made sitting and talking with the girl a habit at this point, something that Lila took a while to grudgingly admit to herself.

But school was different. Lila could easily write off their hanging out as Lila merely wanting to take the heat off of herself while she was in the building, which was definitely still true. She didn’t have to consider Marinette a friend in the technical sense, which meant she didn’t have to agonize over the girl’s intentions and their relationship could stay nice and clean. Considering the mess she got herself into, Lila appreciated the cleanliness — it meant she knew exactly how she was meant to treat people and people knew exactly how they were meant to treat her. No more drama. No more reasons to give people to hate her anymore than they already did. Simple.

Hanging out on a Saturday away from school and away from any real benefit or obligation was purposefully breaking down all those barriers and crossing over into something that was basically a friendship. Lila sort of already knew that Marinette was trying to aim for her friendship — for whatever reason — but Lila was confident that she wasn’t going to run too deep into this and make things complicated for herself.

Yet here she was. Waiting for Marinette. Early no less. Purposefully complicating things.

She was an idiot.

She only really said yes to Marinette because she girl kept insisting and it was the only way to get her off her back. She had every intentions of figuring a way out of this. Lila wasn’t sure why she was here, why she was staying, or why she was even willing to go through with this. She was stupid. This was stupid. She should just go home.

Lila didn’t have the chance to act on any of her thoughts before she heard someone calling her name behind her. She whirled around and saw Marinette running towards her, her sandals slapping against the concrete and her braids whipping in the wind behind her. She was pulling her sunglasses on the top of her head and smiling so sweetly that Lila had to blink against the sudden enthusiasm.

“You look so nice today!” Marinette smiled. “I love the dress you’re wearing.”

Lila clutched the skirt of the sundress she picked out of the very back of her closet today, a mustard colored dress that she hadn’t had a chance to wear ever since her father had gotten it for her on her birthday a few months ago. She stared down at it and swished the fabric around a little. “Oh….thanks. It’s new.”

“I love the color,” Marinette complimented. She was balancing back and forth on her toes and her smile was stretching all the way to the apples of her cheeks. “Are you ready to go? Have some money on you?”

Lila nodded, shuffling through her bag and putting her phone away. “Yes on both fronts, I guess. Although I do recall you saying you’d treat me to lunch,” she added.

Marinette laughed. “Yeah I did promise you that. Don’t worry, I keep my promises. I’ve already got lunch planned.”

Lila raised a brow. “Along with the rest of your allotted hour?”

Marinette smirked. “Right. An _hour_.” Lila was about to protest the sarcasm before Marinette beat her to the punch and continued talking. “Well, the answer to that will depend on your answer to this.” She clasped her hands behind her back and turned on her heel to cross the street. “You a fan of fashion?”

Lila shrugged and looked at Marinette suspiciously as she followed the girl across the road and down the avenue. “I….guess so? Why?”

“You have to say yes or no,” Marinette warned her. “This affects where we’re going. Not in a bad way, but I don’t want to take you somewhere you’re not going to like.”

“What is this, one of those video games where you have to make choices that’ll affect your progress?”

Marinette giggled. “Interesting way to put it, but yeah I guess. Come on, simple yes or no.”

Lila sighed and clutched her bag with both hands. She still had the chance to come up with some sort of excuse that would work at getting her home for the day. But there was a small feeling in the back of her throat — dare she call it guilt — the longer she kept staring at Marinette’s eagerness that was so similar to the eagerness she showed in class that Lila never found herself able to say no to. Maybe she was a glutton for any sort of kindness she could get at this point, no matter how confusing she was about to make things for herself. Maybe she was worse at handling this whole alienation thing than she thought she was. Either way, it didn’t seem quite right to say no when Marinette seemed like she had an entire day planned out for them, and Lila decided to leave it as simple as that.

“Okay, okay, yes,” Lila finally said. “What kind of convoluted plot does that drive me down?”

Marinette surprised her by grabbing her wrist and pulling her down the sidewalk and around the corner. “You’ll see in a bit!”

“Wait, a — Marinette! I don’t like surprises!” Lila exclaimed. But Marinette wasn’t paying her any mind and was leading her down a few cobblestoned streets that were lined with bakeries, cafes, restaurants, and clothing stores that Lila had never seen before. She was expertly weaving them through the busy weekend crowds of families and tourists and Lila was taking two steps for each of Marinette’s one just to keep up. The only reason she wasn’t pulling her hand back was because she was afraid she’d lose Marinette in the crowd if she tried to keep up on her own. She made a show of frowning and slipping her sunglasses back down on her nose and griping under her breath while Marinette pulled her around more corners, across more streets, and down more avenues.

Ten minutes later, Lila had long lost track of where they wound up when Marinette finally stopped them in the middle of the sidewalk and in front of a small boutique tucked away between a cafe and a bookstore. Marinette turned around and leaned against the dark cherry wood door, grinning while she reached over to drum her nails excitedly against the glass of the storefront window filled with dress forms of sundresses, long skirts, and sandals ready for the warmer weather. “Here we are!” Marinette said in a sing-song voice.

“We’re going shopping?” Lila asked. “We passed like five stores on our way here, couldn’t we have just gone to one of those?”

But Marinette was already shaking her finger and opening the door behind her. “There is a reason I only come here. Trust me. You’ll like it.”

Lila stared incredulously at the clothing on display that didn’t look too much different from the other clothes that were on display in other stores. But she shrugged and decided to take Marinette’s word for it. “If you say so….”

Marinette pushed the door open and gestured Lila to go in before her with a little eyebrow waggle. Lila smirked at the showmanship and stepped across the threshold and inside the shop.

But the moment she took a few seconds to look around, she stopped in her tracks and heard Marinette laugh behind her. “Holy _crap_ ….”

The boutique was three stories high with balconies looping around the entirety of the store. On the bottom floor were racks and dressforms of clothing similar to what was in the window, but along the walls were racks and closets filled with boots, shoes, sandals, cardigans, sweaters, jeans, dresses, shrugs, and anything else that Lila could think of. She stepped forward and ogled the price tags on the clothing that never exceeded fifteen euros. The second floor had large rolls of fabrics of every pattern and every texture along with long racks of scarves, hats, and other accessories, and there were a few large chests of drawers that looked like they were spilling with things like necklaces, bracelets, and strings of beads. Lila had to crane her head backwards to see all of the long gowns, formal dresses, and dress shoes that were lining the walls on the third floor, all looking like they were simply going on forever deep into the depths of the store. Lila didn’t think she’d ever seen so many clothes packed into one place and she wouldn’t have expected it from looking at such an innocuous facade from the outside.

Lila was peeking over the tops of her glasses in awe while Marinette bumped shoulders with her. “Cool, right?”

“There are _so_ many clothes!” Lila gasped, already walking over and flipping through a small collection of maxi skirts that were immediately to her left. “Literally, there have to be a thousand pieces in here!”

“It used to be a bookstore before it switched owners,” Marinette explained. “They decided to just keep all the balconies and ladders and stuff and just fill everything up with clothes. Pretty impressive for a thrift store, huh?”

Lila was still running her fingers across everything she was coming across, plucking a dark blue sweetheart cut dress out from the racks before laughing over the price tag. “It’s only eight euros! Is this place real?!”

Marinette smiled behind her hand before pointing up. “You should check out the rolls of fabric on the second floor. There are hundreds of yards of anything you could ever want up there. I buy all my fabric here. It’s a little pricier than all the clothes, but definitely worth it.”

Lila was standing up on her toes with her hands over her mouth, peeking up at the second floor. “I think that whole chest of drawers is just earrings….”

Marinette was biting her bottom lip and smiling through it while she watched Lila continue to sort through all of the racks on the first floor. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you so excited. You _guess_ you like fashion?”

She hadn’t realized she was acting so excited it, and for a brief moment she became hyper aware of herself and tried to tone down the enthusiasm out of self-consciousness. She cleared her throat and tucked loose strands of hair. “Okay, I’ll admit,” Lila started. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

“It’s okay,” Marinette said, curling an arm around Lila’s and pulling her towards the back of the store. “I think I had a conniption when I walked in here for the first time, so you’re doing better than me. But trust me, exploring this place is incredible.”

Lila bounced on her feet a little bit. “Do they have changing rooms?”

Marinette scoffed at the question. “Are you kidding? I go into them with literal armfuls of clothes.” She winked at Lila and backed up against one of the racks of dresses. “Race you?”

It wasn’t often that Lila was ever in the mood for games or in the mood for acting particularly childish. That wasn’t the sort of thing that she thought really impressed people and got them talking about you in a good way. But something about being in here made her feel like she was standing in a little girl’s make believe dream come to life, and she suddenly wanted to just start running through the racks and climbing the stairs and ladders with as many pieces as she could carry just because she could and just because she’d probably never get the chance to do it in a while. It was like one of those opportunities that fell into your lap that you couldn’t possibly say no to.

Lila plucked a strapless green dress from the hanger next to her and couldn’t help but smile when Marinette cackled in delight and started pulling more clothes off their racks and across her arms.

They were weaving around the other customers and not bothering to consider the clothes they were grabbing past their sizes and colors. Lila spent close to ten minutes flitting through all of the piles of scarves on one of the upper floors while Marinette started looping beads and chains around her wrists to try on later. Lila pushed into a dressing room with an armful of summer clothes and five thin scarves around her neck while Marinette tried to balance the five sunhats she’d grabbed on the top of her head while moving into the dressing room right next door.

Lila was preening in front of the full length mirrors, swishing skirts back and forth and walking around in all the heels and wedges she’d managed to carry. Marinette had grabbed at least twelve different rompers and was trying to match each of them with one of the hats she’d grabbed. It got to the point where they were eventually just trying things on for the sake of it and terribly mismatching their clothes without a care for how they looked. Marinette was tossing hats over the partition of their dressing rooms for Lila to put on while Lila threw all of her scarves over in exchange. They were laughing together while they sat on the floor and tried to untangle all of the jewelry Marinette grabbed and they stumbled back up the stairs to try and see which pairs of the dress heels on the top floor they could try on without losing their balance and collapsing against the furs lining the shelves. Lila was laughing herself breathless every time Marinette fell over in heels that were too tall, or tried on large, beaded, feathered hats that covered her entire face and pretended her looked fashionable in them. She also thought she killed Marinette when she came out of the dressing room in a large fur scarf she’d pulled from the third floor with feet of pearls around her neck and sunglasses that curled at the edges and made her look like an owl. It was an infectious kind of fun and laughing that Lila wanted to keep pushing every time she ran back into the racks to find something new.

Marinette was standing in front of the mirror in a long white dress with round, white sunglasses and a wide brimmed sunhat while Lila was swapping through a pile of bracelets to see which one matched the black dress she had on. “How do you pick what to buy?” Lila asked.

“Sometimes I find something I really like anyway so it doesn’t matter. Other times….close your eyes and just pick something random?” she shrugged with a grin. “I dunno. Sometimes I don’t even get anything.”

Lila put her hands on her hips and straightened her back. “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?”

“Not really,” Marinette explained. “Honestly, sometimes this is just a great way to kill an afternoon. That’s part of the reason why I brought you here. It’s just fun to look through everything, don’t you think?”

Lila laughed. “I’ll admit. This place is something else. I thought we were just going to go do our nails or something.”

“Oh please, that’s overdone,” Marinette said with an eyeroll. “Besides, I said I’d show you around. There are dozens of places to shop and get your nails done or whatever else. But look through the entirety of Pairs and find me another store like this one.”

Lila switched out the earrings she had on for a pair she’d stuffed into the pockets of the dress she was wearing. “You’ve got me beat there. I don’t think I’ve even seen anything like this in any place I’ve ever lived.”

Marinette sat down on one of the seats outside the dressing room and fiddled with the brim of her hat. “You said you lived in Italy and London before. Where else?”

Lila kept her eyes on the mirror and stared at Marinette through the reflection. “...we, uh...lived in Germany for a while. Berlin. But only for a month.”

“Anything fun over there?” Marinette grinned.

Lila shrugged and slid her bracelets off of her wrists. “Didn’t really get a chance to look around very much. But the food was great. Their meatballs and sausages are fantastic.” She stopped in the middle of her sentence and laughed. “Papa found this frozen yogurt shop near our flat, and it was the first time he’d had any. We’d go there a couple of times a week because he thought the stuff was amazing. To be fair, it was. Best I ever had.”

Marinette smirked. “Interesting….”

Lila frowned and raised a brow. “Why….?”

“I happen to know a particular frozen yogurt place that is arguably the best in the city, and I haven’t heard anyone tell me otherwise.”

“ _That’s_ a tall claim,” Lila smirked. “This place in Berlin was pretty much perfect.”

“Well, it _is_ nearby,” Marinette said with a grin. “We could stop for a quick snack before lunch.”

Lila looked down at her phone that was lying on one of the changing room chairs. She winced when she realized they’d definitely been here for over an hour and she’d already broken her promise to herself. She was sure that Marinette had picked up on it again too. But she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t having fun, and she was craving something sweet after all of the excitement. She was already out. She smirked and started picking up all the clothes she’d piled next to her. “Remember where we grabbed all this stuff?”

They each decided to splurge fifteen euros on two outfits each and left the store after twenty minutes of figuring out where they’d grabbed all the clothes they’d pulled out. Marinette really meant that it was nearby, because they only walked a couple of blocks before they headed into a small storefront on the corner with entire walls lined in flavors and toppings. Lila was paying for her cup of frozen yogurt while Marinette was scooping extra chocolate chips into a cup “for later” and she almost burst out laughing in the cashier’s face while Marinette tried to sneak it into her bag for whatever strange reason. By the time they came out of the store with their treats in hand and with their purchases hanging off of their wrists, Marinette was paying very close attention to Lila’s first few bites, asking her what she thought of it and frowning every time Lila kept saying she wasn’t sure.

They wound up walking near the Seine and found a couple of seats on the cobblestoned wall to cross their legs, put their purchases down, and enjoy their snacks. Marinette was licking her spoon and watching Lila scoop the rest of the frozen yogurt out of the cup when she nudged Lila’s foot with her own. “So? How is it?”

Lila smirked and finally relented. “Alright, alright, it’s better than I thought it would be.”

“Better than Berlin?”

“Eh….a solid tie.”

Marinette laughed and pumped both of her arms up in victory. “Yes! I can live with that.”

“What would’ve happened had I said it was terrible?” Lila joked.

“Then we probably would have had to go to all of the arrondissements until we found a shop that served one you liked. Because giving you subpar sweets is just against who I am as a person.”

“Dramatic,” Lila smirked.

“Eh, I live in a bakery,” Marinette shrugged. “Proper sweets are serious business.”

“Glad I could put your worries to rest then.” She turned to her left and watched a few boats glide across the river and could perfectly see the reflections of the buildings across the river reflected in the water. She smiled. “I don’t think I’ve ever sat this close to the river before.”

Marinette smiled at the view. “I like this little spot. It’s not all that busy with foot traffic, you can sit on the wall, it’s shady, plus you still get such a nice view. I have a friend of mine and this is one of his favorite spots to just sit and talk, especially at night.”

“I can only just see the river from my house at night,” Lila explained. “It looks pretty from far away.”

“It’s gorgeous if you can look at it up close,” Marinette smiled. She pointed along the bank to all of the buildings that were set up against the river and ended pointing at the horizon down river. “When all of the lights are on and when the sun is just setting, it’s breathtaking. The lights are reflecting off the water, and the sunset makes it look all these pretty colors. Photographers always come here around that time to take photos. It’s perfect.”

Lila hummed to herself and pulled her knees up to her chest. “I always thought that photographers and tourist pamphlets were just really good at making anything look good, and the places that look _really_ good are just compensating for the fact that their city isn’t as nice as they’d like it to be.”

Marinette laughed. “Did you think that about here?”

“I’ve never been here before in my life,” Lila frowned. “I was convinced that everyone in Paris was rude, loud, and smoked too much, and that the city was just going to be crowded, smelly, and loud.”

“Wow, those aren’t even the creative stereotypes,” Marinette said with an eye roll.

“Your head will convince you of anything when you’re going somewhere new I guess,” Lila explained. She was still staring at the water and watching a few people on the decks of one of the boats all sat on small tables sharing wine and meals. “But this is honestly pretty. It’s….relaxing.”

They were silent for a couple of minutes while Lila traced out as much of the river bank as she could as it stretched upstream before Marinette spoke, sounding quieter than she had all day. “Do you….like it here?”

“Here?”

“You know,” Marinette tried to explain. “Here. In Paris. Do you like it here?”

Lila shrugged and fiddling with the straps of her sandals. “I mean, I just got here, so I don’t have a good opinion yet. But it’s a nice city. I like where I’m living. My neighborhood is pretty. So far nothing terrible.”

Marinette was biting on her thumb, looking bothered. “I just ask because….well, you know….”

Lila chuckled and nodded in recognition. “School?”

“Everyone is so awful to you,” Marinette said, the sympathy in her voice making it sound cracked and pained. “It’s not fair to you. You’re such a cool person.”

Lila actually genuinely laughed at that. “Oh, come on, are you serious? Not fair to me? Cool person? You know that’s not true.”

“It _isn’t_ fair to you,” Marinette insisted strongly. “I don’t care what you did, alienating you like you’re some kind of disease….no one deserves that. I wouldn’t even wish that on Chloe Bourgeois of all people, and I’d dare say she even deserves some grief from everyone in class. You’re new, everything is scary and different, people are supposed to be welcoming you.”

“Well, you can’t exactly blame them, can you?” Lila snapped back. “Or would you like me to remind you how a certain Parisian do-gooder basically outed me as a liar to the whole class?” She laughed bitterly and shook her head. “Say what you want, but everything fell apart big time. And I don’t blame anyone for the way they’re acting. Heck, had it been anyone else, I probably would’ve done the same thing.”

Marinette moved closer to Lila and tapped her arm until she looked away from the river and grudgingly stared at Marinette. “Why do you think you deserve to be treated badly?

“It’s called karma,” Lila answered in annoyance.

“This has nothing to do with karma,” Marinette said. She sighed and tugged on one of her braids. “Alright. Do you want me to be honest with you? Completely out there with you?”

Lila gestured her hand in front of her. “I mean, everyone else has made what they think of me pretty clear, might as well add you to the mix.”

Marinette nodded and swallowed. “I….I don’t like that you lied, I’ll admit that. I’m very serious about honesty, and people who lie all the time make me really uncomfortable.”

Lila was starting to anticipate where this was going, so she swung her legs back over the wall and made to walk away. But Marinette grabbed both of her forearms and kept her in place. “Please! Don’t do that, just let me finish.”

This was something she was almost sure she didn’t want to hear, but she supposed that if she was at all confused about Marinette’s intentions this would be the perfect opportunity to clear all that up and finally figure out what on Earth she did to have this girl try so hard for her. “Fine,” she smiled cruelly. “You were at the past where you said I make you really uncomfortable.”

“Look,” Marinette said quietly. “I’m not going to pretend that I approved of what you did. But seeing you sitting alone and having everyone gossip about you and say such mean things to you also made me really uncomfortable. You’re a person, not some exhibit to ogle and make fun of. Maybe you had reasons, or maybe you didn’t, but that’s not my business to understand them. You were new, and you were by yourself. That’s scary. And I just wanted to maybe make it not so scary. And get to know _you_ and not the stories you made up about yourself.”

She smiled at Lila in a way that made her not know how to respond or how to even move. “Plus, if it makes a difference, I happen to like you. You know, the you that makes fun of my texting and prances around in thrift stores dressed like a stuffy fashion designer and hates putting sprinkles on her ice cream, which, _wow_ that is weird.”

Lila burst out into laughter if only to do something with all of the mounting pressure of feelings pushing against her chest and her throat. Marinette slid her hands down from Lila’s arms to around her wrists and knocked them together playfully. “No one’s perfect,” Marinette explained. “But….I’m glad you agreed to come out with me today. It’s nice spending time with you. You’re good company.”

It was a level of sentimentality that she wasn’t expecting just from a silly little Saturday afternoon out, and Lila had to try her best to smirk and laugh it off like it was no big deal. But her chest felt like it was aching in a way that felt nice instead of feeling suffocating and agonizing like it had been at school for the past few days. It made her want to smile and laugh through it, but she wasn’t sure if that was something she wanted to do in front of Marinette yet. At the very least, it was hard to look at that girl’s eyes and accuse her of insincerity. Only someone who was painfully honest and too nice for her own good could possibly go off on such a monologue for the sake of making Lila feel better. At least privately, she could appreciate it. Because this didn’t sound like pity or charity or morbid curiosity. This just sounded like an honest permission for friendship.

Most of the times, friends just came to her because people liked her stories, liked who she knew, liked the things she did. She took it for granted and just expected that people would start hanging out with her for the sake of association. She had to think back pretty far to remember a person who honestly liked her and wanted to be friends with her for things that seemed so small and silly in comparison. In a way, after all of the stress from this week, it felt nice. There was less work involved. She didn’t have to remember old stories or keep coming up with new ones. It was as simple as doing exactly what came naturally to her, and doing what Marinette seemed to like already about her. It seemed so easy, like such little work. It was strange and offputting but….nice.

Lila smiled crookedly and laced her hands together. “I had more fun than I thought I would,” she said, hoping that the unsaid would be apparent, because she didn’t think she could make herself say what she really wanted to tell her. “Thanks for taking me out.”

“Anytime,” Marinette smiled sunnily. “Being silly for a day is always best with company.”

“Speaking of company,” Lila said slyly. “You were planning on accompanying me to some lunch?”

Marinette’s eyes widened and she swung her legs over the wall to stand on the road. “Right right! Sorry! I almost forgot. Let’s go now. We just have to go back near the school.”

Lila raised a brow and laughed again. “ _Why?_ There’s literally a cafe right there.”

“Nope!” Marinette announced, walking down the street backwards, hands behind her back like she was hiding a secret. “We have to go this way. I have another surprise for you….”

Lila covered her face with her hands. “I don’t like surprises, Marinette!” she moaned.

“Uh, I sort of recall you liking the first one,” Marinette smirked. “And this is a good one, I promise! Come on!”

“Hey, would you calm down? I’m coming! And don’t run off without me, I can’t navigate these crowds like you can!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read/like/reblog the chapter on Tumblr [here](http://breeeliss.tumblr.com/post/146808262639/miraculous-ladybug-the-best-gift-in-life)  
> Follow me at breeeliss.tumblr.com


	5. Thunderstorms & Pastries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lila has a last name! Happy day!

By the time Lila had caught up to Marinette, she realized that they were walking down different streets than they were before. But Marinette knew exactly where she was going, bumping shoulders with Lila and pointing out random locations while they walked.

A park that was quiet and didn’t have too many children running around that was good for when you wanted to sit somewhere quiet. An old 18th century townhouse that Marinette always found incredibly pretty that Lila wound up taking a couple of pictures of. A very small chocolate shop that Lila would have missed had Marinette not pointed it out, and Lila couldn’t resist running in and eyeing boxes of truffles and squares of fudge that she promised to come back for. A hole-in-the-wall theater that Marinette said she always got discounts at because the ticketers loved her father’s palmiers — “Make sure you tell me when you wanna see a movie so I can get you a double feature discount!”

It was a little overwhelming, and Lila was pulling out her phone and taking pictures of streets so that she wouldn’t forget where any of these places were, but she appreciated the fact that now she had things to look out for on her way to school or during her walk through the neighborhood instead of having the whole city zip by her in an unfamiliar blur. Buildings had meaning and context, and Lila could look at the streets they walked down and the buildings they laughed in front of and attach a memory to them.

The two of them were walking around distracted for about half an hour, and they hadn’t noticed when the sky started to get cloudy. While they were walking along one of the empty bike paths near the Seine, they heard a loud rumble sound above their heads that made them freeze in place.

Lila stared at Marinette. “I thought you said it was going to be a gorgeous day today.”

Marinette chuckled nervously. “Okay, so I may have exaggerated a little bit so that you would come out with me.”

“You didn’t check the weather?”

“Well neither did you!” Marinette laughed as another crack of thunder boomed in the sky. “Come on. If we run we can make it to lunch before it comes down.”

Lila was already looking at her weather app when Marinette grabbed her hand and started pulling her down the street. “Thunderstorms all afternoon! Dammit Marinette!”

She was still cackling ahead of her and hurried their pace up to a jog. “Put your phone down and hurry!”

They made it a few blocks before the sky opened up and everyone around them was running for cover and getting soaked in the rain. Marinette and Lila were splashing through puddles, slipping along sidewalks, and screaming delightfully at the strikes of lightning that were lighting up the sky as they started going down streets that Lila recognized were near where their school was. Marinette quickly looked up and down the street before she pulled them across one last street and bolted straight for a building with a gold and black awning that had “Tom & Sabine” printed across the storefront windows.

“A bakery?” Lila shouted over the rain as they both practically ran straight into the front door.

“Yup! Home sweet home!”

They pushed themselves into the bakery and out of the storm, forming puddles of water onto the tiled floor. There were no customers at the moment, no doubt scared away by the storm in the midst of the mid afternoon lull. But the place felt sweet and warm, and she rather liked the white and gold counters and the beautifully decorated cakes and pastries in the display windows. She breathed in the smell of bread cooking from the ovens in the kitchen and suddenly got a warm chill through her whole body that made her shiver delightfully. Marinette was hopping on her toes next to her and wiping away the water dripping into her eyes. “Mama! Papa!” she shouted into the bakery. “Are either of you downstairs?”

A short woman with hair that looked exactly like Marinette’s except cut shorter came bustling from the kitchens behind the counter, untying the apron that was around her waist and laying it across the register. She took in the sorry state of the two girls and sighed in exasperation. “Oh, you silly little girl, you forgot your umbrella again?”

Marinette winced. “Sorry. I rushed out and didn’t check the weather.”

The woman turned back to holler into the kitchen. “Tom, darling! Some towels. Your daughter’s gone and gotten caught in the rain again.” She waved them towards one of the tables in the corner. “You look chilled to the bone, come away from the door.” Marinette plopped herself unceremoniously on the metal chairs and the girl’s mother pulled out Lila’s chair for her before she sat down. She leaned her face down to look at her properly. “I don’t think we’ve ever met, sweetie.”

Lila floundered a little bit as she held her arms close to her chest and spoke through her chattering teeth. “Oh, uh, it’s Lila. Lila Rossi. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“It’s Lila’s first week at school,” Marinette added. “Remember I told you I was going to show her around this afternoon?”

“Ah, that’s right!” her mother lit up in recognition. She laid a hand on her shoulder. “Oh, that must be terribly frightening. I hope you’re adjusting to everything alright.”

Lila nodded slowly and tangled her fingers together in her lap. “Y-Yeah. It’s going just fine. Thanks for asking, Miss….um….”

“No need to be so formal with me, you can call me Sabine, I insist. Oh dear, you’re shivering. Come over near the register, it’s warmer over here.” Sabine fussed over Lila and gave her a stool to sit in while she turned back to the kitchen. “Tom! Towels!’

A booming voice sounded from the back of the bakery. “Coming, coming.”

A large man with an apron around his waist and an armful of towels rounded the corner, came around the counter, and dropped towels on one of the tables by the windows. Marinette skipped over to him, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and started toweling off her hair. “Thanks, Papa. And sorry for getting the floor wet.”

“That’s why we keep mops with you around.” He winked at her and handed one of the towels to Lila. “Marinette’s friend, yes? I’m Tom.”

Lila nodded and introduced herself again. “Thank you for the towels.”

“It’s no trouble. I saw the weather after Marinette left and assumed she’d run out without an umbrella.” Marinette stuck her tongue out at her father and laughed when he ruffled her hair. “You two must be hungry. I’ll get something together for you.” He paused to stare at Lila for a moment and then grinned in sudden recognition. “I do believe Marinette told me you’re originally from Italy. Beautiful country.”

“It is,” she said proudly. “I miss it very much.”

There was a twinkle in Tom’s eye, but he nodded as if he’d come to a decision. “I might have something special in mind for lunch then. But why don’t you two get into something dry?”

Lila frowned. “Oh, I-I didn’t bring anything with me …”

“Don’t worry,” Marinette assured, passing the counter and waving Lila over to the back of the bakery. “I have some clothes you can borrow in the meantime, and I’ll put your dress in the dryer. Only if that’s okay with you.”

She didn’t know how she could possibly turn down any of the hospitality shown to her so far, so she finished toweling herself off as much as possible and followed Marinette to the stairs that led up to the apartments above their shop.

They lived in one of the apartments on the top floor of the building that wasn’t much bigger than Lila’s but seemed a lot more lived in — Tom singing to himself in the kitchen while he got lunch ready, the slightly overstuffed bookcase with bookmarks still poking out of some of them, the couch cushions that weren’t quite straight and looked as if someone had been lying across them not too long ago, and all of the photos of Marinette and her parents posted all across the living and dining rooms. In the doorway leading into the kitchen, Lila saw pencil marks against the wall with ages written next to each tick, and she smiled as she looked up all of the marks from age 4 to age 14. Marinette did say that she lived her all her life…

Marinette took them to a staircase that took them one level higher to what must have been the attic. But when Lila poked her head through the trapdoor, she saw pink shag carpets, a pink chaise, a loft bed, and a computer desk tucked into the corner of the room covered in papers, binders, books, tablets, and fabric. There was a skylight above Marinette’s bed that must have led to the roof of the building where the rain from outside was still slapping mercilessly against the glass.

Lila whistled as she looked around. “Nice room…”

“Thanks,” Marinette smiled. “It sometimes gets a little hot in here during the summer or when it rains, so if you want me to turn on the air conditioner, let me know.”

She was looking through one of her bureau’s next to her wardrobe while Lila folded her legs and stayed sitting on the floor near the hatch so as not to get anything else wet. Marinette pulled out a loose blouse and a pair of shorts from the drawers and grabbed a cardigan that was hanging off the edge of her chaise. “I don’t have any underwear for you to borrow, so I hope this is okay for now. Once your stuff dries you can change back in and feel more comfortable.”

“I’ll be okay, thanks for letting me borrow these.” She held up the shorts and looked around the room. “Should I change downstairs in the bathroom, or…?”

“There’s a folding screen in the corner you can change behind, and I’ll just change out here.”

Lila handled the clothes carefully as she moved around to the other side of the folding screen and started to peel herself out of the wet dress and her bra and underwear that were also completely soaked through. It was strange — it was a very long time ago the last time she’d stayed over at a friend’s house for a sleepover or changed in a room that wasn’t her own. The last one she could remember vividly was with a close friend in Naples that she’d stayed with one last night before Lila left for London the next morning, and then never again. Lila didn’t have any really good friends after that, or if she did there wasn’t enough time to foster the friendship before she had to leave again. People were intrigued and fascinated and always begging to be near her to learn more, but she went home alone most days despite all that, and those friendships survived only in the cities they were born in.

Marinette had plenty of friends in school, Lila saw it — everyone knew her, everyone talked to her, everyone who walked into their classroom would stop by her desk even if for a moment and say hello to her. To let a new friend come into her room, borrow her clothes, bring her to her house for lunch, that was completely normal for her, almost like an obvious afterthought that didn’t need explaining. But for Lila this felt like skipping fifty steps and jumping headfirst into something that felt more serious than it probably was. If it hadn’t been for Marinette’s heartfelt speech by the river, Lila would probably still find this to be a thorough joke at her expense.

But Marinette’s parents gave off that same kind of concerned sincerity that could never come from a place of malice, and Lila was finding it harder and harder to believe that Marinette was capable of anything selfish or malicious.

Was it silly to worry about a _friendship_ moving too fast? _Was_ it even moving too fast? And even if it was moving more quickly than she was used to, so what? Was tucking her hands into the oversized sleeves of Marinette’s cardigan and smiling at the warmth of the gesture really so humiliating?

Her head was making a lot of sense, yet she was still standing in Marinette’s room, trembling for reasons that were probably due to more than the leftover chill from the rain. She knew that this was too much hospitality to say no to, but it was a shock to the system – territory that Lila had wholly forgotten how to navigate. Lila had always done the work of making friendships, of initiating the contact, of making sure that everything was controlled and under her terms, but Marinette had already gone and done that for her. She suddenly found herself in a situation where she didn’t know what to say or do next.

“Are you done?” Marinette called out. “You can come out if you’re ready, I’m all set.”

Lila poked her head around the corner and saw Marinette pulling a laundry basket out from the corner of her room and throwing her wet clothes inside. “Do you mind waiting in here for just a minute? I’m just going to run down to the basement to put our stuff in the dryer. Oh, yeah, just put all that in here. I’ve got it.”

“You don’t need help?” Lila asked as she watched Marinette balance the basket on her hip and kick open the hatch that led back downstairs. “You’re going to trip.”

“Nah, I’ve got it.”

“You’re not looking where you’re going, you dummy. Remember when you almost face planted yesterday for running down the stairs? Same thing’s going to happen again.”

“Well don’t jinx me! Sheesh.”

“I don’t need to jinx you, you’ve got that handled pretty fine by yourself. Oh for God’s sake, give me that! You’re going to fall!”

Lila grabbed the basket and scowled when Marinette climbed down the rest of the way laughing. She dropped the basket on the ground at the base of the stairs and Marinette rolled her eyes good naturedly as she picked it back up and headed for the door to the apartment. “Sit wherever you want! I’ll be right back!”

“If you don’t kill yourself on the stairs first.”

“Rude!”

“Clumsy!”

Lila left the hatch open but sat down on Marinette’s desk chair and tucked her feet up underneath her. It was hard not to look around a little – Marinette’s bedroom was like her living room, incredibly personal and most definitely lived in. In her room right now, Lila only had her sheets and furniture out, with a few school and readings books piled around because that was all she’d been using since they moved in. Personal affects weren’t really a thing for Lila since they were hard to store and pack up, and any ones she did have were still in their boxes just like most of her clothes. She’d stubbornly keep them there too until her father assured her that their new move was actually permanent. She refused to hold up such premature hope now.

But Marinette was practically written all over this place and she was gradually filing away little facts about Marinette she hadn’t known before. The girl’s favorite color was no doubt pink, the room was saturated in the color. Marinette looked like an implosively messy person – her floor was clean and her computer desk was positively pristine, but Lila saw from the corner of her eye how absolutely unorganized her clothing drawers were, and she could just barely see all the sewing needles and sewing machine parts and pens and rolled up papers that were haphazardly stuffed into her open desk drawers. She was the type of person who actually made her bed, and Lila found that amusing and only moderately suspicious.

There were pictures on her desk of her and that girl she always sat next to in class, confirming that they must have been best friends. The sweater that she’d given Lila didn’t have any clothing tags on it, and there were dress forms and tape measures and pieces of fabric piled in various parts of the room. She must design clothing for fun. It would explain why she was always sketching in that little notebook of hers during breaks. Funnily enough, she wondered if that was an explanation for all of the Gabriel ads posted all over her room featuring Adrien Agreste. But that was thrown out the window once she accidentally shook her mouse and saw the girl’s screensaver. Lila snorted into her arm and turned the monitor back off. Well, that explained why Marinette always looked so darn nervous in front of the boy at school. Lila couldn’t blame her for having a crush on him, she did too when she first got here. She’d have to remember to tease her about it later anyway.

She liked Jagged Stone. She seriously liked white tea if all the tea bags on her desk were any indication. She had a great taste in shoes. She had way too many teen romance novels, and not the good ones.

She was clumsy. She was often late. She used too many emojis. She was bad at maths. She liked thrift stores. She didn’t check the weather before she left the house.

That was a lot of little things to know about a person, if they were mundane and not really too important in the grand scheme of things. All things that Lila knew because Marinette told her, because Lila was actually letting herself notice things. And…yes still strange, but still very nice. Her chest was filled with so many nerves and so many new, slightly scared feelings but then she remembered the nice day they had, and how warm her sweater was, how natural bickering with Marinette felt both during class and just now, and how good the lunch coming from the kitchen smelled.

Lila laughed out loud in the room and couldn’t stop herself from smiling. It was getting harder and harder to find a downside to all of this. Maybe that meant something.

Marinette had come upstairs to find Lila laughing and looking around her room. Marinette frowned. “I miss something?”

But Lila shook her head and merely reached back to click on Marinette’s monitor, switching to the first thing she could think of that she knew would probably distract Marinette the most. “So…Adrien Agreste, huh?”

“Oh my _God_ , turn that off!”

“I mean, this hardly matters when you’ve got all these pictures up. Nice picks, by the way. These are some of his better spreads. This one’s my favorite.”

“Stop it! No, don’t take them down! Lila!”

When they managed to make it downstairs, Lila cackling and Marinette looking thoroughly embarassed, Tom had toasted buttered sandwiches with fresh deli meats on them ready on the counter for them along with a few slices of the croissant aux amandes that he’d just taken out of the oven and filled with pastry filling. When Tom had gone back downstairs to help Sabine with the counters, Marinette spent most of their lunch making Lila swear back five generations that she wouldn’t tell Adrien anything about her crush, and Lila subsequently spent that time trying to convince Marinette to stop worrying, she was a girl too, she wasn’t going to be a brat and spill another girl’s crush, there were codes of honor about that sort of thing.

“Why are you making fun of _me_ for? Don’t _you_ like him too?”

Lila wrinkled her nose. “Not really, at least not anymore,” she assured, trying to hide the bitterness. Besides, after what Ladybug had said, that ship had sailed, been shot down, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean already. “But I can see why you like him. You should say something.”

“Um, you’re new to the game. You really don’t understand how abysmally that’s gone in the past.”

“He’s just a boy,” Lila chuckled. “Stunning super model or not, all you have to do is use your big girl words.”

Marinete pouted. “Big girl words don’t work in front of cute boys.”

Lila scoffed. “Of course they do. You just have to use the right words.”

“What good are the right or wrong words if they don’t come out!?”

They talked about Adrien. They talked about Marinette’s designing and looked through her sketchbook so that Marinette could ask Lila advice about colors and cuts. They talked about the bakery and how long Marinette’s family had it. They got into a friendly argument about whether the food in France or Italy was better and finally agreed to disagree. They talked about Chloe and how much they both absolutely hated the outfit that she wore to school on Friday. They talked about how it was still raining, how hard their next maths exam was going to be, where Lila got the ring she was wearing, how delicious their sandwiches were, and about Lila’s favorite Italian musicians that she absolutely had to make Marinette listen to.

They were useless little conversations that sort of stopped in the middle before they skipped onto something else, but Lila was oddly in love with how absolutely mundane they were. There was something to be said about enjoying a conversation for the conversation itself and not necessarily for its substance, and that perfectly summed up why Lila didn’t bother interrupting Marinette’s tirade about Gabriel Agreste and why he was such a revolutionary fashion designer and such a great inspiration. It was just enjoyable to have some look so enthusiastic and so eager to speak with her. It was the longest conversation she’d had with someone her age in weeks and she didn’t realize how much she missed it. Lila didn’t even care that the conversation wasn’t centered mostly on her, didn’t even think to try hard enough to conceive a lie for Marinette to make herself seem more interesting because Marinette hung onto her every word anyhow.

Tom had come upstairs a bit later to check up on them, and had pleasantly surprised Lila when he pulled out an entire platter of zeppoles from behind his back and left them on the table for them to eat.

“I will admit, I haven’t made these in years and they’re not on our menu,” Tom explained. “But Marinette said you’d been looking for good bakeries who sold them, and I thought I’d try my hand at them.”

Lila was already kneeling on her seat and eyeing the treats ravenously. “They look gorgeous,” she said excitedly.

“Oh, well thank you,” Tom replied humbly. “I do hope they taste alright.”

They were light and fluffy and filled with a heavenly pastry cream that Lila wished she could steal the recipe for. They were still warm, covered in sugar that was melting deliciously on the top just like she liked them. He’d even gone and brought a small bowl of melted chocolate for the girls to dip the pastries in, suddenly feeling rather touched that Marinette had remembered that conversation and that her father had gone through so much trouble for her. They weren’t quite as good as the ones she’d buy when she visited Sicily, but they were still fantastically delicious and brought back rather potent memories of when she was still a little girl and begging for these as after-dinner treats. She must have been smiling rather stupidly while she was eating them because Marinette was laughing at her excitement and kept insisting away that it was nothing.

It was two hours later and the rain was still pelting mercilessly outside, so Marinette and Lila had moved into the living room, snacking on zeppoles and watching Saturday cartoons and romcoms on the television for lack of anything better to do. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder blasting through Amélie and L’Arnacoeur, cackling over the plot and reciting certain scenes perfectly word for word when Lila’s phone went off next to her and broke the spell of the entire afternoon. She had told him she was only going to be gone for a couple of hours and had completely forgotten to call him.

Marinette saw the worried look on Lila’s face. “Is that your dad?”

Lila nodded. “I forgot to tell him I was staying out longer than I meant to. He’ll probably want me home.”

Marinette nibbled on her bottom lip and nodded. “I’ll go get your clothes.”

She paced around the living room explaining that she’d simply lost track of time because she’d had to take cover from the thunderstorm outside, and she was relieved to hear that her father was far more worried than he was upset. But he was going to get ready to start putting dinner on the table soon and he wanted her home as soon as possible so that they could wake up early and go to church in the morning. Lila quickly looked on her phone for the address to the bakery and her father promised that he’d come by car within the next fifteen minutes to come and pick her up so that she wouldn’t have to take the bus back in the rain.

Lila was upstairs again changing back into her dress and handing her borrowed clothes back to Marinette when she shook her head and handed the sweater back. “You can keep that. Seriously.”

“No, it’s yours. I’ll be fine on the car ride home. I don’t need to keep it.”

Marinette smiled. “I’m saying you can. You looked like you found it comfy. I’m serious, you can keep it. I have another one just like it that I made that I have around here somewhere. Consider it a Marinette original.”

A Marinette original. Just for Lila. She wondered how many other people that Marinette knew could say this, if this was normal or some serious gesture that she’d shown her. Then at least Lila would know how to react. She decided to make it seem like it was the minimal deal that Mairnette was making it sound like and folded it around her forearm. “Thanks.”

Marinette was sitting with her hands in her lap and clicking her nails together. “So…I know I kinda messed up with the rain and all, but…well, I’m glad you had fun today.”

Lila smirked. “Well, I guess I’m glad you’re pushy and insistent and made me stay longer than the hour I meant to.”

Marinette laughed. “Remind me to be pushy and insistent with you more often.”

“Now if only you’d be that _charming_ with the people you want to impress.”

“Hey, you promised!”

“I promised I wouldn’t say anything to him. Not that I wouldn’t tease you about it.”

“Alya already does that for me,” Marinette frowned. “I don’t need you to add to it.”

“I think you do. It might inspire you.”

Marinette rolled her eyes, but she was smiling and ruining the strength of her annoyance. “Text you tomorrow?”

“For what?”

Marinette shrugged. “Just because.”

“Why do I even ask?” Lila chuckled.

Marinette winked at her and skipped back down the stairs. “Before I forget, Papa asked me to give you the rest of the treats.”

The rest of the zeppoles that they hadn’t finished were put into a small pastry box stamped with Tom & Sabine’s logo on the front. Marinette finished tying it off and put it into a bag for her with the promise from her father that if Lila ever wanted more, all she’d have to do was stop by the bakery and ask for an order. There were enough left over for dessert tonight and Lila was sure that her father would weep tears of joy to finally have a taste of home that had come so close to being perfect.

They waited in the living room until Lila’s father was outside in the car and honking for her attention. Lila was hugging the box and her sweater to her chest to protect them from the drizzling rain outside while Marinette held the door open for her. She was meandering in the doorway for a moment to gauge how wet she was about to get from dashing across the street and into the car, but as she was about to get really to make a bolt for it Marinette tapped her on the shoulder and made her turn around to face her. Marinette bounced on her toes a little bit and looked down between them before she wrapped an arm around Lila and pulled her in for a quick hug.

Lila’s arms were caught in between their bodies and she didn’t have the time to return the hug, but her eyes blinked open wide, and she looked at the side of Marinette’s head as she gently leaned into the hug for just a second before Marinette pulled away. Marinette fixed the string of the pasty box and waved at her. “Get home safe.”

“Y-Yeah,” Lila breathed out. “I will.”

Marinette was still standing in the doorway of the bakery when Lila was safely in her father’s car and fastening her seatbelt. Her father put the car in drive and started to peel away from the curb before Marinette send Lila one last wave goodbye and a sunny smile before she closed the door.

She was tracing her fingers along the bakery’s logo while her father chuckled and tapped his fingers under Lila’s chin. “You alright, _tesorina_? You look distracted.”

Lila shrugged and ignored the question. “I found us a bakery that makes zeppoles,” she smiled. “You need to try them. They’re…practically perfect.”

“Really?” he grinned brightly. “Well, you have me intrigued! What bakery is this?”

“Someone from school,” Lila muttered. “Her parents own it.”

“Ah,” her father hummed in interest. “Was that what you were doing this afternoon? Hanging out with a classmate?”

Lila nodded and leaned her forehead against the cold windowpane. She bit on her bottom lip and rubbed the material of the cardigan in between her fingers. “Yeah, she’s uh…she’s a friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read/like/reblog the chapter on Tumblr [here](http://breeeliss.tumblr.com/post/148027160514/miraculous-ladybug-the-best-gift-in-life)  
> Follow me at breeeliss.tumblr.com


	6. She's Not Evil Incarnate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for falling off of this for so long. New semester means trying to get used to a ridiculous work load again. But I've got solid plans for this now, so updates shouldn't be too infrequent.

“Oh,  _ hello!  _ Someone’s looking snazzy this fine morning!”

Marinette barely managed to walk over the threshold of her doorway before Alya made a show of crossing her arms and looking Marinette up and down rather pointedly with a smirk on her face. Marinette gave her a self-indulgent eye roll, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and turned to lock the front door to her apartment. “Good morning to you too, Alya.”

She pocketed her keys and started heading for the stairwell, but Alya didn’t let her go far before she grabbed Marinette by the shoulders, spun her around, and held her away from her at arm’s length so that she could get a proper look at the outfit that she had chosen for the day. She let out a low whistle and squeezed her upper arms. “Trying to catch Adrien’s eye, aren’t you?”

She shrugged off Alya’s hands and readjusted her backpack. “Oh, stop it, can’t I look nice for myself once in awhile?”

“Of course you can,” Alya said flippantly. “But as your best friend, I’m particularly sensitive to the days when you put in extra effort.  _ This _ is definitely extra effort.”

Marinette tucked her hair behind her ear and started walking down to the first floor so as to avoid Alya’s gaze. “It’s not that big of a deal. Just wanted to try on some new clothes today.”

“New clothes that look amazing on you!” Alya nudged. “I know your wardrobe inside and out, I’ve never seen you pull this one out before. Where’d you get it?”

Marinette smiled wistfully. “This weekend, actually. At the thrift store we always go to.”

Alya’s eyes widened in interest. “Oooh. On Saturday? When you went to hang out with Lila?”

“Yeah,” Marinette nodded. “I took her there like I said I would.”

At first, when she was getting ready this morning, she was going to throw on something from the front of her closet that she’d worn a few days ago and just be done with it. It was Monday, no one was going to notice, and she was rather dreading having to camp out in the library today to study for their maths test that was coming up on Thursday. No need to put too much effort into an outfit if that’s all she had to look forward to today. But while she was digging around for a pair of shoes, she happened upon the bags from the thrift store that she’d taken Lila to and finally remembered to rip off the tags and put the clothes on their hangers. 

She eyed one outfit in particular — a pair of skinny, rose patterned jeans and a dark blue sleeveless blouse that made Marinette look so much taller and slimmer when she tried it on in front of the mirror at the store. Secretly, she’d decided to buy this one because Lila told her it was her favorite. She’d even pulled out Marinette’ braids fluffed out her hair, and told her that it would look amazing if she had some nice boots to go with it. It was such a small moment and it wasn’t even the most comfortable Lila had acted towards Marinette that day, but the memory still made Marinette smile with pride while she kept admiring the outfit. 

It really was a gorgeous ensemble, and it barely cost her twenty euros. Maybe it would help start her week off on a good foot to dress a little nicer than usual. So she threw the outfit on, pulled out her favorite pair of fall boots, and even decided at the last minute to pull out her pigtails and keep her hair loose. It was a different look for her, but she had to admit that Lila was right about the hair and the shoes. A small part of her wanted to take a mirror selfie later and use this as a template for a design she’d been throwing around since Sunday. She had to remember to thank her for the good call when she saw her in class today. 

“You know,” Alya mused as they exited onto the sidewalk. “You never told me how that went.”

Marinette grinned. “It...actually went really well. I sort of expected her to bail on me. She was a little shut off at first, but I think shopping definitely helped. We had a lot of fun.”

“Seriously? This is the same girl that has a permanent bitchface and hasn’t a single nice thing to say to anyone in class other than you. She was  _ fun _ to hang out with?”

“You had to be there,” Marinette insisted. “We wound up getting caught in the rain and I had to bring her by my house for us to dry off. She’s so sweet, Alya, honestly. We were talking and watching movies almost the entire afternoon, and Papa made lunch for the both of us. When we’re not at school, it’s like she’s completely normal. If anything, I think you’d actually like her.”

Alya scoffed in disbelief. “Your bottomless optimism is showing again.”

“Oh come on,” Marinette said. “You said you’d try to be nice to her.”

“Yeah.  _ Be nice _ ,” Alya emphasized. “Which I’m doing. But being friends with her is a completely different story.” 

“Why?”

“I already told you,” Alya reminded her. “She’s giving me no reason to be friends with her. Look, it’s really cool that you’re getting close with her, and I’m glad that she’s warming up to you. But she’s got her work cut out for her where the rest of the class is concerned.” 

Marinette opened her mouth to argue, but she bit down on her lip when she realized that Alya was right. When Lila left the bubble of space that Marinette occupied, it was like everything was flipped on its head and she became a totally different person, namely a person that was still feeling the lingering after effects of being mortified in front of the entire class and beyond. The truly frustrating part was that Marinette had to work for Lila’s friendship, and Lila clearly wasn’t showing any enthusiasm in putting that work back into other people besides Marinette. 

Marinette could sympathize with it — she imagined she’d act closed off if the entire class found out she’d been lying about herself since she walked through the doors. But Marinette’s friendship wasn’t enough to get Lila through the entirety of her stay here. Warming up to the rest of the class and vice versa was probably for the best if school was going to become something that Lila didn’t treat with absolute dread. 

The only problem was that it seemed entirely out of Marinette’s element. Befriending people was one thing. Making an entire class like that same person was an entirely different game. It required people to want to give her a second chance, and it required Lila to want to put in the work to get people to give her that second chance. Marinette wanted to help Lila fit in and make this move to a strange country easier for her — anyone deserved that — but she was a bit perplexed as to how she was supposed to proceed with that. 

“Well,” Marinette began slowly. “What would she need to do? What would convince you?”

Alya raised her eyebrows, and Marinette recognized it as Alya’s typical look of skepticism, but she answered, “Well some civility to start with. She’s so damn frigid. You can’t even wave at her without her glaring at you, it’s like she’s in her own world.”

Marinette shrugged. “It’s probably hard being in her position…”

“Granted, but don’t absolve her of the responsibility for putting herself into it,” Alya reminded her. “Coming in here and lying about herself to get attention and get friends? I’m sorry, but that’s selfish. And yeah, maybe she had reasons for it like you said, but it doesn’t matter. If she wants to make any headway with people, she needs to learn how to be less selfish and open up more. Otherwise, how are people supposed to trust her?”

It sounded harsh, but Alya didn’t mince words and Marinette knew she was right anyway. They were already in front of the stairs to their school and she hesitated by the bottom step while she watched students begin to filter into the building. “I know you’re going to say I’m too nice for this, but...I want to help her. I know that a lot of this is stuff she needs to do for herself and I can’t really do anything to push that, but I still want to be there for her. There’s a really nice, funny girl underneath all that defensiveness.”

Alya smiled. “Well, it might actually be the best thing for her if you’re friends with her already.”

“Really?”

“Of course,” Alya reasoned. “It’s the only reason I’m not completely writing her off. Nino mentioned this already, but it’s worth repeating. People like you Marinette, and people trust you and your opinion. It’s a huge help to her if you’ve got faith in her. Despite all the crap she’s pulling...I guess she can’t be all that bad.”

Marinette grinned sheepishly. “She really isn’t.”

Alya spread her arms out helplessly. “I’ll wait for her to prove it to me. And when she does, I’ll promise you here and now that I’ll give back the same effort.” She poked Marinette in the ribs and started to march her up the stairs. “Now come on, let’s actually get you to class on time for once.”

Maybe it wasn’t any of her business, but Marinette had already resolved herself to helping Lila fit into class, and she was going to go all out in trying to make that happen. She supposed it was easier to warm Lila up to her immediate friends first — namely Alya, Nino, and Adrien too since he offered so nicely to help Marinette out. After that, she didn’t think it would be too difficult for the rest of the class to follow suit, but that was ironically the hardest part of all of this. Alya’s and Nino’s approval were difficult things to gain indeed, and they both had personal reasons to not want anything to do with Lila. 

She decided to shaft that issue for later and focus on trying to survive the morning — one of her notebooks exploded and sent pages flying all over her locker, she left her pencil case at home, she almost stopped breathing when Adrien tapped her on the shoulder on the stairwell and told her how nice she looked today, and she promptly tripped on the laces of her boots and almost fell down the staircase before Alya managed to catch her and prevent her from breaking her nose on the landing. All in all, a rather typical Monday for her, although she only hoped that History wouldn’t be too terrible to sit through first thing in the morning. 

Marinette was letting Alya copy from her history notes from last class when she saw Lila finally enter the classroom, distractedly shuffling through her bag. She swore that the smile that split onto her face was reaching from ear to ear because she immediately recognized the outfit that Lila was wearing as something she’d also grabbed off of the racks from the thrift store they’d visited this weekend. If anything, it was the checkered dress and leather jacket that Marinette had told her made her look like one of the Gabriel models in his last Winter Collection, and she was suddenly so happy that they both had the same idea this morning. 

Lila started to walk up the stairs before she made eye contact with Marinette, looked her up and down quickly, and snorted in laughter. “Looking very chic, Marinette. Told you keeping your hair down was the way to go.”

Marinette giggled. “I’m telling you, leather looks great on you. You pull that jacket off better than I did.”

Lila shrugged and looked down at her jacket. “It’s...growing on me. I wouldn’t say leather’s my thing though.”

“Oh please, you could get away with wearing most anything. Take it from a designer.”

She scoffed and turned back to reach into her bag. “Alright, alright, I forgot. You’re an expert on these things.” Lila pulled out four CD cases that were rubber banded together and set it down on Marinette’s desk. “By the way, I found my old CDs from that Italian band I told you about this weekend. Don’t listen to them in order though. Do the 3rd, the 2nd, the 4th, then the 1st. I feel like if you like Jagged Stone you’ll probably like the 3rd one best, although the 2nd one’s my favorite.” 

Marinette grinned greedily and started shuffling through the disks. “Yeah, but that’s because you love that slow, gooey, lovey-dovey music.”

Lila rolled her eyes. “It’s not slow and gooey, it’s just lighter. And it’s good, trust me.”

“Alright,” Marinette promised, tucking the disks to her chest. “I’ll listen to them tonight and tell you what I think.”

Lila nodded and let her eyes dart over to Marinette’s left before her smile suddenly dropped and she looked decidedly more nervous. Marinette turned and saw that Alya was staring between the two of them with a look that was mixed with suspicion and incredulity. She was clicking her tongue against her teeth, purposefully not making any comments but making it obvious that she had opinions that she wasn’t going to share with anyone. The scrutiny made Lila shift her feet uncomfortably, and Marinette was suddenly worried that Alya was making her disapproval come on too strong and scaring Lila back into her shell. 

But much to her surprise, Lila darted her eyes quickly to Marinette before gulping in a huge breath and setting her shoulders back. “Alya, right?”

Alya lifted her brows in interest. “So they tell me.”

Lila pursed her lips and bobbed her head a few more times, as if psyching herself up for another response. She floundered around for a bit before she hesitantly gestured around her head. “You’re, uh...hair looks nice today.”

Alya snorted and tugged at the french braid sitting on her right shoulder, but she smiled anyway and accepted the compliment. “Thanks. Thought I’d shake it up today.”

Lila clutched the strap of her bag tightly. “Cool.” She didn’t say anything else for a long few moments, instead choosing not to tear her gaze away from the critical appraisal that Alya was giving her. She drummed her fingers against her thigh a couple of times before letting out a huge sigh and heading for the stairs leading to her seat at the back of the classroom. She muttered something along the lines of seeing Marinette in maths before she slunk away and sat at her usual seat tucked away from the rest of the class.

Marinette hummed in thought and watched her start to pull her books out. “Well…” she began helplessly. 

Alya was shaking her head in amazement. “That girl has such a long way to go. Also…” She turned to Marinette accusatorily. “I know you said you two bonded this weekend, but that right there was downright  _ chummy _ . That almost sounded like — ” She paused and gasped dramatically. “A  _ wholesome conversation _ .”

Marinette gave her a blank stare. “She’s not evil incarnate, you know.”

“Nope, Chloe’s already got that cornered,” Alya assured. “Guess I’m just not used to her doing something other than bragging about her amazing life or hissing at anything that gets too close to her. She gave you music recs?”

Marinette nodded and put the CDs in her bag. “Mmhm. She listens to a lot of Italian artists I’ve never heard of. I probably won’t understand the lyrics, but she said the music itself is really good.”

Alya stole another look at the back of the classroom and couldn’t help from laughing to herself again. “So weird…”

Marinette knew Alya wasn’t trying to be mean. Alya was just naturally suspicious and cautious around people who disrespected her or did anything to try and intimidate her, which already gave her plenty reason not like Lila, especially after giving a fake interview for her blog and demanding rather cruelly to have it be taken down to cover her own skin. But she knew that Alya was more than capable of changing her opinions about people for the better, and Marinette was almost positive that she’d like Lila if she had a chance to get used to her a little bit more. 

Proximity seemed to work well enough in order to get Lila and Marinette talking. Well, proximity and Marinette’s pushiness. Maybe all she needed was the right scenario. 

That scenario seemed to come two periods later when they were all instructed to spend the next period block in the library, which everyone was sure to spend studying for their next maths exam. Marinette figured that trying to study with Adrien today probably wasn’t the best idea since actually being ready for this exam required that she not be distracted by Adrien biting on the end of his pencil or brushing his hair out of his face. He’d dragged Nino to one of the study rooms on the second floor of the library to get their own studying done while Alya scooped up her own textbook and put her hands on her hips. “Alright, if we’re going to blast through two chapters in one period, I’m calling an official ban on funny animal videos.”

Marinette puffed her cheeks out. “But study breaks!”

“They’re not study breaks when you take them every five minutes.”

Marinette threw her head back and groaned. “Aw, maths is such a ridiculous subject. What math do I need to know to design clothing?”

“You need to pass your classes to get into lyc ée, pass your bac, and get into your fancy designing school. So silence your phone and come on.” 

They were about to go to the back of the library to their normal table until Marinette saw Lila setting herself up on a study table by herself and pulling out her own maths book to start her studying. Marinette remembered sitting next to her in class on Friday and quietly agonizing with her about all the equations that were thrown up on the board that they neither of them understood. Marinette had been so busy scrambling to write down the equations that she didn’t even have time to raise her hand to ask a question, and Lila looked like she had given up halfway through and started working on her other homework. She couldn’t imagine that trying to study for something like that by yourself was going to be particularly pleasant. 

Marinette was tapping her hand insistently on Alya’s arm while still keeping her gaze on Lila, and Alya immediately followed her gaze and let out a stern, “No.”

“Come on!” Marinette begged. “She’s just as bad at maths as I am, this is being a good classmate.”

“Okay, Marinette? Do I need to remind you that I still do not like this girl? She threatened to get my blog reported because she had a temper tantrum. No. A thousand times no. Being civil with her is one thing. She’s not sitting with us.”

“That’s not fair,” Marinette glared. “This isn’t a matter of making friends. She needs help with school. I’m not going to watch her struggle by herself when I know she doesn’t understand any of that nonsense because neither do I.”

Alya sighed. “Marinette, come on…”

“ _ Please?”  _ She folded her hands innocently under her chin. “I can maybe try and get you another Ladybug interview. I know you haven’t had a one-on-one with her in a while. Could get you back all those followers you lost last week.”

Alya narrowed her eyes at Marinette. “Don’t you dare try and win me over with Ladybug interviews…”

“Ah, but you’re interested in getting another Ladybug interview, aren’t you?”

“Marinette —”

“Papa’s making more macarons this afternoon,” Marinette smirked. “Pistachio. Your  _ favorite _ …”

She covered her face with both of her hands. “I’m going to kill you…”

“I could  _ maybe _ sneak you some for freeeee….”

Alya slammed her bag into her chair. “Okay,  _ okay _ . Fine. She can study with us. But if I get one dirty look or one shred of attitude from her, I’m kicking her off our table. Agreed?”

Marinette patted Alya on the head. “You’re a darling, Alya, thank you!”

Marinette plopped her books down on their study table before quietly slinking to the other end of the library where Lila was currently gripping at her hair and staring forlornly at her maths textbook. She slipped into the seat right across from Lila and slid one of the review worksheets towards her. “You’re actually going through all of the worksheets  _ now _ ?”

“I mean, I don’t know what else to do,” Lila complained. “Those are the problems that are going to be similar to what’s on the test, so I figured slogging through them is the best way to go.”

Marinette bit her lip. “You have to finish the readings for this week for it to make any sense, though…”

Lila didn’t look to thrilled at that prospect. “The textbook made even less sense than the practice problems.”

Now fully committed to her idea, Marinette started collecting all of Lila’s handouts and putting them into one neat pile. “Come study with Alya and me. Alya’s really good at explaining how to do the problems, she always helps me on my maths test and I wind up doing really well on them.”

Lila snorted and immediately shook her head. “Oh, that sounds like a terrible idea.”

“Why?”

“Because your friend doesn’t like me,” Lila muttered. “No one does. I’m sure the last thing she wants to do is help me.”

“She offered,” Marinette explained. “I mean...okay, fine, I convinced her, but she’s willing to help. This has nothing to do with liking each other, this is just helping out a struggling classmate. You should accept the help.”

Lila gripped her pencil tightly and started scribbling out solutions to the first problems. “I’m fine, Marinette. I’ll figure it out for myself.”

But Marinette was having none of it and reached over to close Lila’s textbook, ignoring the angered look of affront that crossed her face when she snapped up to look at her. “Stop being so darn stubborn,” Marinette scolded. “You have to do well in your classes.”

“I don’t think you get it,” Lila tried to explain. “Your friend probably doesn’t want anything to do with me, and to be honest, I’m perfectly fine leaving it that way.”

“That’s so stupid,” Marinette said in confusion. “You’re not a monster, you know. You made a mistake. Mistakes are easy to fix.”

“This coming from the class rep that literally everyone likes.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Stop that. Alya would probably warm up to you if you just apologized.”

Lila glared hotly. “ _ Apologize? _ For what?”

Marinette stared at her sternly. “Lying on your interview on her blog for one. And threatening to get her blog taken down when you got caught in the lie. You know that was wrong.”

Lila looked slightly taken aback at the hostility, and Marinette swore that some of the annoyance that had overflown when she had scolded her as Ladybug was starting to bubble to the surface again. She couldn’t help it — it seemed so obvious to Marinette where the apologies needed to go, and that these apologies needed to happen as quickly as possible. But she had to remember to be patient and not to fall back into a repeat of what got Lila into this mess in the first place. She took a deep breath and softened her gaze. “Look, I’m not saying I know everything about you, but I do think I have a good sense of the kind of person you are. It’s a person that I think everyone will really get to like once they get to know you. But you have to clear up all the confusion and suspicion if that’s ever going to happen.”

“And what if I don’t want to clear up anything?” Lila countered. “What if I don’t care if no one likes me?”

Marinette smiled sadly. “You and I both know that’s not true…”

She heard Lila gritting her teeth, and Lila slammed her pencil down against her notebook, glaring at the lines on the paper and dutifully avoiding Marinette’s gaze. It seemed very likely that Lila was going to just bark at Marinette to leave her alone, and she was prepared to give her the space that she needed. After all, as much as she wanted to shake sense into the girl, she realized that Lila needed to meet everyone halfway if any progress was going to be made, and that frustrating reality was something that Marinette was going to have to live with. But after a few moments of what looked like some serious internal debating, Lila scooped all of her books and handouts into her arms, picked up her bag, and started to walk over to Alya’s table. Marinette grinned in victory, and followed her over. 

Alya looked up when Lila picked a seat right across from her and Marinette and silently sat down, purposefully spreading out her books and papers in a way that took up the least amount of space. She cracked her notebook open again, spared a glance at Alya, and muttered a quiet, “Thank you.”

Alya’s brows lifted, looking rather impressed, and she shrugged easily. “Just try and keep up. I’m running through Chapter 7 with Marinette so you can peek over if you want.”

Surprisingly, the rest of the period proceeded rather normally. Marinette was expecting a little bit of drama between Alya and Lila, but it seemed like Alya was keeping her promise to help both Lila and Marinette as much as possible, and Lila seemed much more concerned with trying to understand as much as she could of the material instead of dwelling over whatever hangups were still between them. Lila eventually dragged her chair over to the other side of Alya and was taking pictures of Alya’s equations, scribbling them into her own notebook, and asking questions whenever something confused her. Alya traded back and forth between correcting Marinette’s arithmetic and reorganizing the equations that Lila kept memorizing incorrectly, and after half an hour they eventually got to the point where Marinette and Lila could go through most of the problems on the first worksheet without any help. It wasn’t anywhere near ideal, but it was certainly a start. Hopefully after a few more days of studying, they’d both be more than ready to tackle an exam. 

“So the steps you wrote out work for all problems?” Lila asked. 

“They should,” Alya said. “Just make sure you’re pushing all your variables to one side before you do it though. Otherwise you’re going to get a wonky answer.”

Lila nodded and wrote down the advice in the corner of her notebook. “Got it.”

Marinette was leaning her head over the back of her chair and letting out a drawn out, pained noise. “Can we take a break? My eyes are starting to hurt.”

“You’re the one who wanted to finish this worksheet before next period,” Alya teased. 

“My brain is full already. Too much math for today. Can we please stop?”

Lila rolled her eyes with an amused smile. “Mind if I copy the rest of this?” she said, pointing to Alya’s notebook. 

“Go for it,” Alya insisted. “She looks like she’s tapped out anyway.”

Marinette flicked Alya’s nose. “Just want until we have a History exam, you’re going to be begging me for help.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened up her Internet app. “Alright. Cute animal videos. I need a good laugh.”

She was about to start flipping through all the videos she had saved into a playlist specifically for this occasion before she heard an exaggerated groan of frustration and the sound of books and papers hitting the floor. The three of them looked at one of the study tables by the windows and saw Chloe rubbing her temples and Sabrina frantically picking up all the books and papers that Chloe must have just thrown to the ground. “God, this exam is so absolutely ridiculous. Sabrina, remember to write big when you take the test, alright? There’s a strong likelihood I’m going to need your answers.”

“Oh, don’t worry Chloe,” Sabrina smiled, struggling to straighten out all the crumpled up notes. “I’ll help you understand everything! We just have to try again.”

“Please, I’m not wasting my time with this,” she said with an eyeroll, pulling out her phone and scrolling through her notifications. “Daddy’s working on getting me a note to give me extra time on this test, anyway. Maybe he can permanently get me out of it. I mean, honestly, this is just cruel to students.”

Alya snarled at the sight and leaned back in her chair. “That girl makes me want to contemplate murder…”

“Now, now,” Marinette soothed. “You can’t become a reporter with a criminal record. We talked about this.”

“Where’s the librarian?” Lila asked. “She’s being awfully loud…”

“She won’t say anything to Chloe,” Marinette grumbled. “She can unfortunately get herself out of anything.”

“I’m telling you,” Alya warned dangerously. “One day that girl is going to be hearing it from me…”

Students sharing the table with Chloe were already getting up to leave or putting in their headphones to drown out her complaining, but it didn’t seem like Chloe was taking any hints from her surroundings. Instead, she was going on an extended rant about how unfair exams were in this school and how she’d be finding a way for her father to get her excused from most of them since they were so needlessly difficult. It was getting to the point where she was disturbing even Alya, Marinette, and Lila from two tables away, and Alya kept muttering something about finding the librarian on the upper level to get her to kick Chloe out. Marinette was just ready to get up and move to another table, not really interested in butting heads with the girl at such an early hour at the morning. But before she was even table to breach the suggestion, Lila sat up straight in her chair and called over to Chloe’s table. “Is your drama going to have an intermission soon?”

Alya’s eyes widened and she turned to Lila in surprise. Marinette, however, was keeping her eye on Chloe whose head turned slowly as she stared menacingly over at Lila who was keeping her glare going strong. “Excuse me?”

Lila leaned her chin on her hand and smirked. “Oh, I’m sorry, did I need to slow that down a little bit for you? I mean, I thought I was the only one here with French as a third language.”

Chloe immediately shoved her chair out from the table and got up from her seat to walk closer to where they were all sitting. “I wasn’t talking to you,  _ Lila _ ,” Chloe snarled. “Besides, staring at you is starting to give me a migraine. That outfit of yours is absolutely garish.”

The insult did little to deter Lila. Instead, it left her dropping her head and laughing so hard she almost knocked Alya’s textbook right off the table. “My, do you always mask your insults with humor? They should give you your own stand up show!”

“Look, nobody asked you for your opinion!” Chloe growled. 

“You’re right,” Lila shrugged. “But I mean, it’s a thankless job, and I’ve got a lot of karma to burn off.”

Alya actually held her notebook up to her face to hide the boisterous laughter that was threatening to spill out, and Marinette couldn’t help but hide her face in her arms and try to do the same. She peeked one of her eyes out over her arm, and she didn’t think she’d ever seen Chloe look so red in the face before. The last time Chloe insulted Lila, she looked about ready to explode in anger and curse Chloe in front of everyone in the locker room. But now, Lila was the perfect picture of grace, looking like she had about ten other comebacks right at the tip of her tongue. It was possibly the funniest thing that Marinette had seen in a long while. 

Chloe smiled cruelly. “You’re just jealous,” she decided finally. “You’re the new girl in class that nobody likes. It’s sad really.”

“Yeah, but you’re the old girl in class that nobody likes, so whose track record is worse here?”

Chloe stamped her foot on the ground and slammed a hand down on the study table right in front of Lila’s chest. “Is there a problem that you have that you’d like to share with the group? Huh!?”

Lila didn’t offer a response. Instead, she squinted at Chloe’s face while tapping her fingers against her pursed lips. She was humming to herself and tilting her head to the side before Chloe snapped, “Oh  _ what _ are you looking at?”

Lila shook her head a little bit. “Oh, sorry. I was just visualizing you with tape over your mouth.”

Alya snorted and slammed her fist down on the table while her entire body shook with contained laughter. Marinette had to stick her head under the table and try to laugh as quietly as she could so she wouldn’t draw anymore attention to their table. 

Chloe pointed a finger in Lila’s face. “Listen to me, you…”

Lila rolled her eyes and groaned. “God, if I throw a stick, will you leave?”

Chloe gasped. “Did you...did you just insinuate that I’m a — !?”

“Listen, I understand that it’s difficult for you to keep up. Sharp of tongue does not always mean keen of mind, after all. But I’d really love to get back to my studying so…” Lila waved her hands. “Shoo, shoo! You’re casting out all the sunlight in the room.”

Chloe’s mouth was moving, but no sounds were coming out as she struggled to find another comeback to fling her way. Lila was sitting there expectantly, not at all deterred by the challenge, and that was enough to get Chloe grumbling under her breath, turning on her heel, and stomping out the library. Marinette and Alya waited until Sabrina — juggling her and Chloe’s things — had followed Chloe out of the library before they both dissolved into hysteric laughter. 

“Oh my God,” Alya said breathlessly through her amusement. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that annoyed in my freakin’ life!”

Marinette was waving her hands in front of her face to get rid of the flush that was probably spreading all the way to her ears. “She looked like she wanted to murder you so bad and didn’t know how!”

Alya did a little mock bow. “I tip my hat to you. That was pretty impressive.”

Lila allowed herself a small smile and shrugged simply. “I hate complainers.”

Marinette watched Alya appraise Lila in what looked to be muted approval before she dragged her books back towards her and pulled out the rest of the math worksheets they brought with them. “Alright. Study break over. Now that the witch is gone, we can maybe finish the rest of this.”

Studying for the rest of the period went a lot easier, and Lila managed to crack a few more jokes that left Alya laughing in genuine amusement. By the time the period ended and they had to start making their way over to their maths class, they’d finished half of another worksheet and Marinette was proud to say that at least half of the material made more sense to her now. She always liked to joke to Alya in times like this that she’d make a wonderful teacher if only she possessed the patience for it because she was always the difference between doing well and chucking her books out the window in hopelessness. 

Lila had gone off to switch out her books from her locker while Marinette and Alya went on ahead to their classroom. Marinette dug her elbow into Alya’s arms and wagged her eyebrows at her. “See?” she grinned. “She’s not that bad.”

Alya showed a reluctant smile. “She’s funny. And ballsy. I’ll give her that. But I still expect an apology and a hell of a lot more effort.”

“That sounds fair,” Marinette promised. “I’m sure she’ll buck up the courage to apologize soon. I’m sure of it.”

“I know you’re sponsoring her, so I’ll take your word for it,” Alya joked. “And when she’s got an apology ready, now she knows where to find me.”

Alya sat in her usual seat while Marinette climbed up the stairs to the back of the classroom where she usually sat next to Lila who looked like she was reviewing the notes from their study session. Marinette smiled while she pulled out her books and her tablet and got herself set up for class. “Alya’s fantastic, isn’t she?”

Lila nodded. “She gets this stuff better than I do, that’s for sure.”

“See?” Marinette grinned. “That wasn’t too bad, was it?”

Lila screwed her mouth into a strange grimace. “I dunno. It was kind of weird, I can tell she still doesn’t like me at all.”

“Nah, I don’t think so. If anything, I think she’s just waiting for an apology from you.”

“Yeah,” Lila snorted. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea. Actually, it sounds like a terrible idea.”

“It’s a lot easier than you’re making it seem,” Marinette said. “You only have to try, and you have nothing to lose by doing that. The only thing that could happen is that you get on better terms, and that’s a wonderful start. Besides, you are sorry, aren’t you?”

Lila decided not to answer, and Marinette decided not to push the subject. The fact that she hadn’t immediately said no or shut down the topic was good news as far as Marinette was concerned, so she’d keep her hopes up for a quick reconciliation. Besides, something was telling Marinette that once they got their differences cleared and set aside, Alya and Lila would actually get along pretty well. 

Chloe had stormed into class at that moment, and her eyes immediately darted up to Lila’s seat at the back of the classroom. But before she could even go up there to continue their previous argument, Alya piped up from her seat and said, “Oh, please tell me you’re not going to go up there to willingly get thrashed again. Didn’t you get humiliated enough in the library? I can’t believe you’re asking for more.”

Chloe’s cheeks puffed out in anger and Lila actually had the audacity to wave and send Chloe a harmless little wink in response. Their teacher was already walking into the classroom which left Chloe with no other choice but to crash down into her seat and let her anger roll off of her. Lila chuckled at the sight and turned back to her books while Alya leaned forward in her seat to talk animatedly to Nino and Adrien, stealing glances at Chloe and chuckling the entire time. 

Marinette watched the whole exchange and tried to hold back the desire to pat herself on the back. Yup. She definitely saw this ending well in the future. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read/like/reblog the chapter on Tumblr [here](http://breeeliss.tumblr.com/post/151693449289/miraculous-ladybug-the-best-gift-in-life)  
> Follow me at breeeliss.tumblr.com


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